


4:56, Make a Wish

by Angiebcn89



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-20 06:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1500113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angiebcn89/pseuds/Angiebcn89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Emily finally decides to talk about who she likes... Things aren't really like she thought they would be. But... That doesn't always mean something bad, does it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I’m ready to talk about it

**Author's Note:**

> Weeeell, I never know what to write in this author notes (as if I wrote THAT many xDD). The thing is, I'm glad you're reading this! That already means a lot to me ^^ I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it =)
> 
> This (long)fic is dedicated to two little persons. First, my Miss Beta, Syl, for cheering me up and encouraging me to keep writing, without her I'm sure I would've stopped it a long time ago... So because of this and some other reasons, thank you! The other one is Merche, who read this entire fic in a sitting. Amazing ^^ Thank you both! #TeamMean rules :D
> 
> An the rest of the people... Thanks again for give this fic a chance! Enjoy :D
> 
> Rating: K+ for now.
> 
> PS: I'm the worst summarizer ever. It had to be said xDD

Emily woke up that morning and the first thing that came to her mind was the exact same thing she thought about the night before. _Her_. She couldn’t keep her out of her mind, as hard as she tried. _She has a boyfriend_ , she thought once and again, _I can’t do this_. But the other girl kept running inside Emily’s head, nonstop.

Emily just came out of the closet just about two months ago, everybody was starting to adjust to this new reality of hers, and luckily, everything went fine. Her mom was understanding, even though not at first, but she grew to understand her and be in good terms with her sexuality. Her dad was, too, and her sister Carolyn must have sensed something, because she wasn’t as surprised as Emily thought she would be. Everything was perfect, everything but one thing. Everything but _her_.

Swim practice was early that morning, but Emily wanted to be prepared, and she went downstairs where the family was having breakfast.

“Hey, you’re already going? Aren’t you going to eat?” asked Pam, Emily’s mom.

“I’ll grab something, practice is early today so I wanna get going”, she answered.

“Here, take this”, Wayne said, Emily’s father, as he handed her a brown bag with her name written in it. “It’s just a sandwich, but hey!”

“Thank you, dad, but you didn’t have to”.

“I know, Emmy, but I wanted to, now go break your swimming record again”, he said, smiling at her.

“See you!” she said as she walked through the door.

She never talked to anyone in her family about her love life, except, of course, when she finally decided it was time for her to go out there and say that she was gay. She felt like that was enough for her family to accept right now, and she didn’t want to bother them with girlfriends or love interests. Not that she had had a girlfriend before… but still.

“Hey, wait!” Just as she was getting into her car, her sister Carolyn called her. “Can I come? It’s been some time since I don’t go to the pool”. She swam too, but not anymore.

“Just... okay, yeah”, Em said, and let her get into the passenger’s seat.

“Are you okay?” Carolyn asked, but she never got a response. “You can talk to me, you know? About anything. Like the old times… I miss you”.

Since even before her coming out, Em and Carolyn weren’t speaking as much as they did before. Maybe it was because of the changes both of them were going through, maybe it was because Em didn’t feel like talking to her sister about girls. Whatever the case may be, Em missed her big sister too, and at that moment she felt an urge of hugging her. And talk to her. And maybe, just maybe, tell her about _her_.

“I miss you too, sis. I just… I don’t know if it’s right for me to talk to you about certain things. Or anyone, for that matter. I feel like I’m gonna puke at any time”, she said.

“Oh, no, please, not here, not over me!” Carolyn said, teasing a little. “I told you, I miss you, I just want you to be okay… and I’d like to help if I can”.

“I’m gonna be late…” Em said, as if wanting her sister to get out of the car.

“I was serious about going to the pool, so you can drive now”.

“Yes, sir!” Em said, joking. For the first time that morning, she was smiling.

She sure missed her sister and how she easily made her smile and laugh. After a moment there, Carolyn finally spoke again.

“So… what’s up?”

“I, uh…” Emily hung in there for a minute. “I think… I think I’m in love with someone”. She looked at Carolyn for a second, just to see if she reacted in any way, but she was just looking at her, listening. “I don’t know”.

“Is she…? You know, does she like girls?” Carolyn asked, awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I’m not used to this, but I’ll get better, I promise”.

“Don’t worry, I’m not used to this either”, she smiled, “I’m just glad I can talk to you. And… no. She doesn’t. And the worst thing is that she even has a boyfriend, and I don’t know, I just…”

“People can change, you know?” Carolyn said, trying to make her feel better.

“Yeah… no, I don’t think so”. Emily smiled as saying _thanks for the effort_. “Well, we’re here. Are you coming?”

“Of course, I’ll even get into the pool with the team, if they let me”.

Emily smiled, pleased. At that moment, she felt closer to her sister than she ever felt in the last two months. Before heading to the locker room, Emily got closer to her sister and gave her a hug. She didn’t know it, but just listening to her meant much more that her sister would ever think. “Thank you, sis”.

“Don’t thank me yet… I still want you to tell me more. Like… do I know her?”

Emily blushed. She didn’t want her to know who _she_ was yet, as she thought that what she said to her sister in the car was more than enough for today. “Yes, you know her, but I won’t tell you who she is… not yet. Please, give me some time to figure things out”.

“Of course, whenever you feel like talking… I’ll be here”. Carolyn gave her an honest smile, and taking her sister by her arm, both of them headed towards the locker room, where the team was gathered before practice.

* * *

 

“Hey, Em!” Aria said, approaching to her in the hall. “Did I see your sister before?”

“Yes, yes, you did. She came to swimming practice today, she said she missed it, so…”

“Oh! It’s been a while since I don’t see her… say hi to her from me, when you see her!”

“I will! I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear from you. She went home already, though”, Emily said, taking her books from her locker. Aria already had them in her hands.

“Anyway, we’re getting together later, at lunch, you’ll come, right?”

“Uh… Yeah, yeah, I’ll come, I’ll see you there” Emily said, faking a smile.

“Hey, what’s the matter? And don’t tell me it’s nothing because I know you and it’s definitely something”. Aria said, and as she got no response from Emily, she continued to say “Hey, is there something wrong? Do you want to go anywhere and…?”

Emily shushed her and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the bathroom. Aria was astonished, and as much as she thought she knew Emily, she had absolutely no idea what was going on. After all, they were best friends. The four of them, but for Emily, with Aria was a lot easier.

She made sure no one was in there with them by opening the stalls one by one, and after seeing that there was nobody there but the two of them, she closed the door and spoke to Aria.

“I need to tell you something, because I feel like I’m going to explode, and this can’t be healthy, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. And I mean… anyone”.

“You know I won’t tell, Em”. Aria said in a reliable way.

“I know you won’t… but I needed you to promise. Okay…” she stopped, and looking down, she admitted to her best friend “I like somebody”.

Aria was surprised by that. Even though the four of them talked openly about their love interests with each other, Emily never talked about any of hers after coming out. She felt guilty for not asking her, for not being there for her when she needed it. She should’ve known.

“You like…? Who? Do I know her?”

“Yes, you do”, Emily said, and looking right into Aria’s eyes, she added, “It’s Hanna”.

 Aria just kept looking at her, and after a moment she hugged Emily and told her everything was going to be okay. _Yeah, right. As if there was something I could do._ She thought. But she didn’t say it out loud. After all, Aria was there, listening to her, and she didn’t want to mess things up.

“Well, I can’t think of any reason why I should do something, she’s as straight as an arrow and also, she has a boyfriend. Why the hell did I fall in love with her? Of aaaaall the people. It had to be her”.

“One can’t choose who to fall in love with, Em… There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Have you thought on telling her?”

“Oh, no. No. No, no, no. Why would I do that?” she asked. _Are you crazy?_

“You’ll feel better just by telling her. Once it’s out there, you’ll know what happens… On the other hand, if you just keep this to yourself –and me–, well, you’ll keep feeling sadder and sadder every day. And I don’t want that, because I love you and I don’t want you to be self-destructive”.

“I will. Someday, but please, for the moment… Don’t say anything, not even Spencer”, Emily asked.

“I won’t. Your secret’s safe with me”, she said, smiling at her, right before hugging her again. “So… Are you still up for lunch?”

“Yes”, Emily said, with a new feeling of relieve. She always felt better after talking to Aria about anything. “I’ll see you there. And her… Now, don’t you act weird now that you know!” she said, teasing her. She knew Aria sometimes had a hard time keeping this kind of secrets. Aria smiled back at her as she ran to her class, they were both already late.

* * *

 

Emily was five minutes late to lunch, as she stopped to talk with her teacher about some extra work in order to get her grades up. The long and early swimming practices were killing her, and during the afternoons she didn’t feel like studying a lot. She just wanted to sleep.

“Hey, Em! Here!” Spencer said. “We were talking about you”.

_What?!_

“Aria told us your sister was here today, it’s been a long time since we don’t see her and she told us she saw her with you after your swim practice”, Spencer continued.

“Yeah. Yeah, she’s been missing the pool a lot since she left for college, and she wanted to come”, Emily said, sitting in front of Aria, which led her to sit next to Hanna. “Anyways, she told me to say hi to all of you”.

“Say hi back!” Hanna said, smiling at her.

Emily died a little from happiness every time she saw Hanna smiling like that. _I just want her to be happy, even if it’s not with me_ , was all that she could think of. She could never put her happiness before others. She wasn’t that selfish. _Someday I will have my own piece of happiness with someone._ And somehow, that thought made her feel better.

Hanna’s phone beeped. It was a text message. “Ugh, it’s Sean again. He wants to hang out tonight and I don’t really feel like it”.

Aria looked at Emily. Emily looked at Aria. Now that Aria knew, she couldn’t help but keep an eye on her if Hanna said or did something that might hurt her.

“You know what?” Aria said, all of a sudden. “Tell him you have plans. Why don’t you all come to my house tonight? My parents won’t be home and my brother will be at some party with the guys from the lacrosse team. We can stay the night”.

“I’m totally in”, said Spencer, “I need a sleepover!”

Emily’s eyes met Aria’s and she smirked at her. _I know what you’re doing…_ “Okay, yeah, I’m in too, even though I’m tired”.

“Hanna?” Aria asked.

Hanna was texting Sean back, and after pressing the _Send_ button she said, “Done. I told him I was busy and that he can go partying with lacrosse team or something. I’m in!”

“Then it’s settled. Sleepover at my house tonight!” Aria said. “We’ll order some pizzas and everything. Be there at… around 7pm?” Everybody nodded, agreeing. “Perfect, then. I’ll better get to class, or else I’m gonna be late again. See you later!” As she was leaving, she turned around and winked at Emily from the distance. Nobody else saw that.

“Yeah, I’ll better get to class, too… I’ll see you guys later” Spencer said, patting Emily’s back as she got up.

Now they we’re both alone, and Hanna was still looking at her phone, and when Emily noticed, she couldn’t help but ask if everything was okay.

“Yeah, yeah”, Hanna said. “It’s just… Things are not the same between me and Sean anymore. He keeps giving me the cold shoulder, and I honestly don’t know why”. She looked at Em and added, grinning, “But I don’t mind, today, tonight is just for us!”

“Yes!” Emily couldn’t help but smile back at her. “And everything is going to be okay with Sean, you’ll see”, she paused. “Anyway, aren’t you late, too?”

“Nope, I have the second lunch turn today. So are you, right? We still have 15 more minutes”.

“I think my sister told me she was going to pick me up earlier so we can hang out before she has to go back to college in two days. Do you wanna come? We can pick her up instead”.

“Today?”

“Yes, after school… and then we can go to Aria’s together”, Emily said, feeling a rush of confidence. “You don’t have anything to do, right? I’m sure she would love to see you. She was always very fond of you”.

Hanna looked at Emily, then at her phone. Then at Emily again, and it was then when she said “Yeah, why not? I’d love to!”

“Okay! Then meet me by my car after next period. I’m going to call her to tell her we’ll pick her up instead and then to class. See you later!”

“Later!”

Emily disappeared from Hanna’s sight and when she did, she took her phone and dialed her sister’s number. _Pick up, pick up!_ She was too nervous because of what just happened. Maybe this was nothing for other people, but for her… that took a lot of courage.

“Em, what’s up?”

“Sis, I hope you’re ready because we’re going out after next period. I’ll go pick you up”.

“Okay, then. What’s happening?” Carolyn sounded surprised.

“Remember I told you earlier today I wasn’t going to tell you yet who she was? Well, I changed my mind… You’re going to meet her. Again”.

“I can’t wait, little sis! See you later, then. Love you!”

“Love you, too!”

And they hung up. Emily wasn’t really gonna be paying too much (or any) attention during the next period.

* * *

 

Hanna was next to Em’s car when she got out the doors.

“Already? You’re fast”.

“Yeah, I didn’t feel like running into Sean, so I went out five minutes earlier. Anyway, where are we going?” Hanna asked, excited.

“We… are going to pick up my sister at home and then we’ll go to the mall, if that’s okay”, Emily said, as if asking the blonde if she wanted to go somewhere.

“That’s totally fine by me”. Hanna said, while both were getting into the car.

Emily put her car key into the ignition and the engine began to roar. The music, an old song by Michelle Branch, blasted through the loudspeakers. As if it was prepared, they both looked at each other, yelled “I love this song!” and started to sing right away.

 

_‘Cause you’re everywhere to me_

_When I close my eyes it’s you I see_

_You’re everything I know_

_That makes me believe I’m not alone_

_I’m not alone…_

                      

_If you knew, Hanna… If you knew._

When the song ended, it changed to another unknown to both of them, so they remained silence for a moment. Hanna was looking out the window, they were already in Emily’s street, and she saw Carolyn in the distance. “Gosh, I love that song. It’s been a long time since I don’t listen to it”, Hanna said.

“Same here, that was fun” Emily said, pulling over. She didn’t even turn off the car, as they were going to the mall. When she got out of the car, she stared at her sister, and Carolyn totally understood what that look meant.

Hanna got out the car too, in order to say hi to her. “Hey Carolyn! Long time no see!” She approached to her and hugged her.

“I could say the same! Wow, you really got prettier from the last time I saw you! You’ve got to tell me your secret” Carolyn said, winking at her.

“You got a deal! But only if you tell me about college and how is everything there”.

“You, guys, let’s go. I wanna buy some things to bring to Aria’s tonight. I’ll feel bad if I don’t bring at least a bag of chips”.

“What happens tonight at Aria’s?” Carolyn asked. They all got in the car and headed to the mall.

“Slumber party. The four of us. Like the old times. It’s been way too long since the last one and we needed it”, Hanna said, excited. “Plus, I get to be with my best friends all night and not home alone”.

“Your mom is not at home today?” Emily asked. She knew her father was living with his new family, but she didn’t know how Hanna was doing, living alone with her mother. She sure knew she spent a lot a nights on her own, as Ashley Marin, her mom, was out on business a lot. “Then I’m glad you’re coming today”.

“Me too, I wouldn’t miss it for the world”. Hanna said as Emily parked the car and all of them got out.

Carolyn looked at her little sister, and she saw a smiling, glowing girl walking towards the mall. She was sure Emily didn’t even noticed she was smiling like that. For the first time in a long time, she saw her sister being genuinely happy. If only she could stay that way…

“So, before going to the shopping moment of the day, would you like to have a drink? Anywhere. It’ will give us time to catch up”, Carolyn said. It was only 5pm and they had plenty of time to go buy what they needed.

“Sure, why not? We have time. We could go to Rive Gauche, there”, she pointed at the second closest restaurant from them. “Someone told me it’s where Lucas was working, but not anymore”.

“Let’s go, last week I heard someone at school say that it was a cool restaurant”, Hanna said, “and that they got a bar where you could ask for anything”.

“Let’s go, then”, Emily said. When they got there, Emily sat next to Hanna and Carolyn right in from of them. That way she wouldn’t be looking at Hanna all the time. That gave her big sis the perfect angle to see both of them at the same time.

After a while, a waiter in a black apron came to take their order. He was a good looking guy, even Emily could notice. “I, uh… I’ll have a diet coke, please. No ice”. Emily was underage and driving. Double the reason not to order anything with alcohol.

“I’ll have…” Hanna stopped, smirked and said “Sex on the beach, please. Virgin”.

The three of them burst into laughter with that, and even the waiter couldn’t help but join them for a little bit. After calming a little, Carolyn asked for the same Hanna was having.

“But make it dirt for me, I’m old and I’m not driving today”.

“You can’t be that old”, the waiter said, smiling at her. “I’ll be right back”, and he left to the bar.

“Oh. My. God”, Hanna said, “he was totally hitting on you, Carolyn, didn’t you see how he looked at you?!”

“Oh, stop it!” Carolyn said, she felt awkward. “I can’t even stop laughing after how you asked for your drink”, she said trying not to laugh again.

“Someone’s got a crush on my siiister, someone’s got a crush on my siiister…” Emily said, teasing her. “Okay, I’ll stop”, she said, laughing.

“Good! Anyways”, Carolyn said, and looking at Hanna she asked, “How’s everything at home? Is everything going okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s been a bit harder for me and my mom since my dad’s not here, but we’re getting used to it. It’s some night like this, when I’m alone, that I hate the most. But apart from that everything’s fine”.

“I’m glad to hear that, Han. I miss my family too, when I’m out in college. That’s why I come from time to time to visit. I miss my little sis”, she said, looking at Em. “It’s always nice to hang out with her”.

“It’s nice to hang out with you too, Care”, Emily said back.

“Sisterly love! So nice”, Hanna said, looking at both of them. “And how is everything with you? At college, I mean. I’m gonna put on my mama mask to ask you if you’re keeping your grades up”, she said, taking her hand to her face as if she was wearing an invisible mask.

“I am, mama, I am!” Carolyn said, laughing.

At that moment, the handsome waiter came back their order, and he put them on the table. “One diet coke over here, one virgin sex on the beach over here, and the dirty one over here. We don’t usually bring a snack to accompany the drinks, but it’s on me”.

Carolyn noticed his name on his badge. “Dan, is it? Thank you for the snack”, she said, smiling in an awkward way.

“You’re all welcome!” Dan said as he went to wait on other tables.

“That was nice”, Carolyn said. “And weird. But hey, free snack”.

“Dan has a crush on Caaaarolyn! Dan has a crush on Caaaarolyn!” Hanna and Emily laughed, even though they said it quietly, so Dan himself wouldn’t notice.

Carolyn laughed and said “Stop it! You’re gonna make him come here again… Please!”

“Okay, okay, we’ll stop…” Emily said, “Dan has a crush on my siiister!” she teased on more time and after one more stare from her sister, she said “I’m done, now!” laughing again.

“Well… Where were we?” Carolyn asked. “Oh, yeah, I was just telling _mom_ I’m keeping my grades up”, to which Hanna giggled. “I’ve been studying regularly so everything’s fine”. She looked at Em, as if saying sorry for what she was about to ask. “And what about you? Are you still going out with Sean?”

Emily’s face changed for a moment, but then she looked at Hanna, too.

“Yeah, uhm… yeah. I’m still with him. But I don’t wanna bother you”, Hanna said.

“Oh, no, please. I asked, you’re not bothering me. But tell me only if you want to!”

“Well, he’s been acting weird since about a week ago, and I don’t even know why. I can’t even be alone with him ‘cause everything gets so awkward, you know? I feel like he’s mad for something and he doesn’t bother to tell me why”.

“That’s weird. I mean… most boys tend to tell you if something’s wrong with them. Don’t you have any clue?” Carolyn asked.

“Nope… I even asked him what was happening and he said something like ‘we’ll talk later! I have to go to class!’ and today he sent me a message saying if I wanted to hang out tonight, but Aria came up with a better plan”.

“You should go talk to him. Not tonight, I mean, but you should. And see if you both can fix it”, Emily said, with a lump in her throat.

“Yeah, I know, but right now is for us, and tonight for the four of us, and no one is going to ruin that!” Hanna said, raising her glass and drinking. The sisters did the same.

“Speaking of which, what are you doing?” Carolyn asked.

“We’re going to order pizzas and probably watch a movie or talk or something. I’d invite you to come, but…” Emily said, but Carolyn spoke, not letting her sister finish the sentence.

“No, no, I don’t want to disturb. Plus, I have things to do, so I wouldn’t even be able to go. But I take your word that someday we’ll go out. The four of you, and me”.

“Yes! I’m sure Spencer and Aria would love that. Too bad you can’t come today”, Hanna said, sounding kind of sad. “You’d have fun”.

“I know”, Carolyn answered. “But like you said, tonight’s for you, guys. You should have fun. And speaking about tonight, we better go buy whatever you want to buy or you’re going to be late”. By this, Hanna searched through her purse to get the money to pay for her virgin sex on the beach, but Carolyn stopped her. “Oh, no, I’m buying. My treat!” and she went to the bar where Dan was attending a middle aged couple, so she waited.

“You know my name… I think it’s only fair that I know yours, too” Dan stated.

“Uh… My name?” Carolyn asked, perplexed. Dan nodded. “Carolyn”.

“Well, Carolyn, drinks on the house”, Dan said, and Carolyn was even more perplexed. “I just hope you come here more often, Carolyn”, he said, smiling at her. “I’ll be glad to wait on you and your friends any time”.

“I, uh… Uh… Thanks!” She smiled back at him, heading to the door. Hanna and Emily were already out. When she met them, they walked towards the little market on the other side of the hall. “You won’t believe what just happened…”

“What?” Emily said, expectant.

“Dan didn’t let me pay for our drinks. We just drank for free. He said it was ‘on the house’. I mean… He was totally hitting on me and I didn’t noticed”.

“Oh. My. God. Sis!”

“See? Told you! He was totally hitting on you! You’ll have to come more often, see what happens”, Hanna said, teasingly.

“Well, then you both will have to come too, he said he’d be glad to wait on all of us any time”.

“As long as we have free drinks… I’m in”, Emily said, patting her sister’s back.

* * *

 

Spencer was already at Aria’s when Emily and Hanna got there at 7:20. She was always really punctual and was never late to anything, anywhere. “Hey, guys! Did you come together?” She asked.

“Yeah! We went to buy something for tonight and we had a drink with Carolyn. Turns out the drinks were free. It looks like the waiter there had a thing for her”, Hanna said, and both her and Em laughed.

“That was pretty cool, yeah. And you? Asking for… sex on the beach? You’re the worst”, Emily said, bumping her shoulder against Hanna’s.

“No way!” Aria said, “You’re crazy, Hanna”.

 “What?! I felt like it!” Hanna answered, laughing too. “Anyway, what are we gonna do? Movies? Chit chat? Board games…?”

“Let me finish this. You can’t go to the TV and chose what to watch. I’ll make some popcorn. Salty for us, sweet for Spencer… weirdo!” Aria teased, smiling at her friend.

“What can I say? I’m a sweet person” Spencer answered.

Emily and Hanna were already seeing what movies the Montgomerys had, and they were going through them, separating them into _Watchable_ and _No way_. Aria mouthed a “come here” to Spencer, and both of them went to the hall, where neither Emily nor Hanna could listen to them. Emily found out about this conversation later on.

“Listen, you know how I suck at keeping secrets from you, right, Veronica Mars? I have to tell you something, but you just have to act like you don’t know ‘cause the secret isn’t mine to tell in the first place”, Aria said.

“Is this about Emily? ‘Cause I already know about her crush on Hanna” Spencer said. Aria looked surprised. “Hey, it’s you who just called me Veronica Mars, didn’t you?” She smirked.

“Well, don’t say anything, I’ll make sure she’s okay until she can figure things out”, Aria said. “Just imagine how she must be feeling…”

“I just imagined that she’d fall for you instead of her, with you both being BFFs and everything, you know”, Spencer teased.

“Oh, come on, it’s not something to kid around. Last time I spoke to her she told me everything. I didn’t know what to say… She must’ve thought I was the worst _BFF_ ever”.

“I’m sure she didn’t. And you know you’re not. Instead you’re throwing a party for the four of us just when we all needed it. I kind of missed these”.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to this… It’s really weird that the house is empty. It would be years until the next one”, Aria said.

“It won’t, we’ll find places to go or something”, Spencer said. “I just feel bad because she never talks about herself… She just listens to us whining about our love life and boyfriends and everything. We never really talked about hers”.

“I know, that’s what I thought, too. We have to make sure that changes… She has to know we’re here for her and we love her just as well”. Before having the opportunity to keep talking, they both heard a voice from the other side of the room.

“Hey, are you coming? I think we have the perfect movie”, Hanna said, calling them.

“Uh… Yeah! Yeah! Right, popcorn”, Aria said, taking them out of the microwave and putting them in a bowl. “Coming!”

As they all gathered around the TV, Spencer asked “So what did you chose?”

“Well, we know how you guys loooove karaoke…” Emily said, smirking, “so we decided to watch… The sing along version of _Hairspray_ ”.

“Okay, I was _not_ expecting that”, Spencer said quickly, “but okay, I’ll take it!”

“Okay, are you ready?”

The movie started and Aria turned off the lights. They could still see with the light coming out of the TV screen, it was enough. Emily was, to Aria’s surprise, enjoying every second of the movie, the night and the sleepover. At least for now. She was a sucker for musicals and she saw Hairspray literally a bunch of times, so many she probably lost count.

Eventually Aria fell asleep, and Spencer after her, which was weird, as Spencer usually sleep too little, had too much coffee and was comparable to an owl. Emily lay on the floor by the couch, where Hanna was.

“Good night, Han”, Emily said, closing her eyes.

“Good night, Em”.


	2. You’ll never be alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get Hanna's POV now. Directly after the end of Ch.1. Enjoy! And sorry for taking sooo long in publishing it!

Hanna was lying there in the couch, waiting to fall asleep, but she couldn’t. In the darkness and with that loud silence that filled the room, she had a clear way to think about some things. For example, about that afternoon at school, right after lunch time.

The truth is, she never went to class after Emily and her talked and decided to go to the mall. And she never left earlier to get to Em’s car.

“Han, wait!” Sean yelled from the other end of the hall.

“What?”

“Here, come. Please, let’s talk”.

“So now you wanna talk? After more than a week giving me the cold shoulder. Unbelievable”, Hanna said, staring right at him. “You’re unbelievable”.

“So now it’s me? I send you a message so we can meet tonight, you decide to hang out with your friends instead”.

“We’re not hanging _out_. We’re hanging _in_ ”, Hanna said, in a teasing voice. “We’ll be at Aria’s”.

“And you prefer that to hang out with me?” Sean said, sounding annoyed.

“Well, do you? Because last time I checked, it was you who didn’t want to hang out. I spent the last week at home, alone, ‘cause even my mom wasn’t there. And I call you and… What? You can’t? You have practice? You are so full of yourself you didn’t want to spend some time with me? You couldn’t even make some time for me between periods. So yes. I prefer to hang out with them instead of you, today”.

“Suit yourself, then”, Sean said.

“So now you run away. That’s pretty cool of you, Sean”.

“What do you want me to do, Han? I’m reaching out to you now and you’re ignoring me”.

“No, I’m not ignoring you. I’m just doing exactly the same you did to me all week. ‘You wanna hang out?’ ‘I can’t! Better plans!’” Hanna said, imitating Sean’s voice for that last part.

“Look, things haven’t been easy since a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t want to tell you because I know you have your problems and I didn’t want to bother you with mine”.

“See? That’s your problem. You think you will bother me, you think I won’t listen or I won’t be able to help you. You think you have to be the big guy, taking care of everything… But you know? Sometimes even big guys have to lean on someone else”.

“I know, and I’m sorry”, Sean said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Let me make up for it, please”

“You can start by telling me what made you be so absorbed in yourself you didn’t even wanna spend some time with me”, Hanna said.

“Well… I wasn’t going to tell you this yet, but I don’t want you to be mad at me, so…” Sean said. He was staring at her, but right before he kept talking, he looked down. “My parents are moving out of town. And they want me to go with them”.

“Are you serious?” Hanna asked. She couldn’t believe it. “And you didn’t think this was important enough to tell me before?”

“I did, but I just wanted to get away from it and see if I could stay here. I didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily. I guess that it doesn’t matter anymore… now you know it and I’ll have to go eventually”.

“Do you even know when? Or where?” Hanna asked.

“Pittsburgh. And nope. I’m trying to convince them to let me stay at least the rest of the school year, but that doesn’t seem to be working”.

Hanna didn’t know what to say. She expected it to be some kind of bad week at school or with the team, but certainly not that.

“Look, just give me some time to think about this, okay? I’m really late to class”, Hanna said, getting up of that bench they were seating, in the courtyard. “We’ll talk about this later”. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. After all, she was mad and sad and pissed off because she didn’t know what to do.

She went inside the school, but instead of heading to class, she went into the ladies room, where she sat on the floor. It was class time so she was sure nobody would come in and see her there. She tried to think in some ways to help his boyfriend, but nothing came to mind. The more she tried, the less ideas she had. She felt tired of thinking. She even let herself shed a couple tears, which she quickly dried. It was almost time to meet Emily by her car, and she didn’t want her to notice she’d been crying. Not even a little bit.

So yes. She lied to Carolyn and Emily too, and it killed her… because she didn’t want to lie to them. Or Spencer and Aria, for that matter. But she didn’t feel like talking about it, and it’s a good thing they never asked her… except for Carolyn.

* * *

Hanna was the last one to fall asleep and the first one to wake up. While the others were still sleeping in the living room, she got up and went to the kitchen, where she prepared some coffee.  _Ah, the silence_ , she thought. It was almost 11am, and it looked like those sleeping beauties could keep dreaming for an eternity. She looked for four cups in the kitchen cabinets, and when she finally found them, she poured the coffee and added the exact amount of sugar each of the girls liked. Their friendship was so tight, they all knew these kinds of things about each other.

“Hey, wake up!” She said as she left the cups of coffee in the small table that was between Emily and Spencer. “Come on, sleepy heads!”

 “Wha…? What’s up?” Aria said, in a sleepy voice.

“You made coffee?” Emily asked, still stretching.

“Yep. Just how you all like it”.

“Two sugar lumps?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah, I just told you, just how you like it”, Hanna answered as she turned on the TV. They were showing some documentary about the lions in Africa, so she started to surf the TV channels to see if there was something better. There wasn’t. “Well, African lions it is”.

They were all quiet for a while, watching the TV and drinking their coffee. Aria brought some cupcakes and cookies, too, as Hanna didn’t know where they were kept.

“So… We never made plans for today. What do you wanna do?” Aria asked.

“Actually…” Hanna said. “I have to go to Sean’s, we have to talk. But you guys can stay or do whatever you want without me”.

“Did you talk to him after lunch time, yesterday? Is everything okay?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah, after you all went to class I ran into him and we talked”.

“You didn’t say anything to me or Carolyn”, Emily said, but not in a reproaching way.

“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t wanna bother you both, I needed to take my mind off of it for a while and I was able to do it because of you both and then because of the three of you. So thanks”. Hanna said, smiling a little.

“So…?” Aria asked, on behalf of the three of them. “What’s up?”

“He… He has to move out of Rosewood and we won’t be able to see each other”.

“What? Why?” Emily asked, not expecting that. Hanna could see that she was worried about her, and she hated it when her friends worried about her like that.

“I don’t know, he just told me his parents are going to Pittsburgh and he has to go with them. Nothing else. That’s why we have to talk today”, Hanna said. “But you all have fun. I’ll call you later to see if I’m back or what”.

“Hey, no, don’t worry. You go talk to him and stay with him if you need to. We don’t mind if you prefer to stay with him… Especially if he’s going soon”, Spencer said.

“Thanks, guys!” She said as she walked towards the door. “I’ll call you later!”

* * *

 

Hanna had enough time to think as she had her car at home, so she had to walk from Aria’s to Sean’s. It wasn’t really that far, but she took her time to get there. It was a Saturday, and Hanna knew that Sean was always home on Saturday mornings, so she wasn’t in a rush. When she got there, she knocked on the door, and Sean himself opened.

“Hey, come in”, Sean said.

“Are your parents’ home?” Hanna asked, standing still at the door.

“Nope. They won’t be home for at least a couple of hours, I think”.

And that’s when Hanna came in. She headed to the couch, where she sat. She was used to walk around that house as she pleased, and this time wouldn’t be different.

“So…” Hanna said.

“So… I’m going. It’s definitive. I wish it wasn’t, but it is”, Sean said, and you could almost see the sadness in his face, even though he was trying really hard not to look sad in front of her. He knew that she would lose it if he showed any kind of sadness or anger. He knew he had to be strong for her. “We’ll be going to Pittsburgh in three days, on Tuesday”.

“In three days?” Hanna said, and she was definitely sad. “How can they even make you go with them? In the middle of the semester? It’s not fair”. She had tearful eyes, but she was trying not to let out a single teardrop.

They were both silent for a while. Neither of them wanted to talk about the next topic in the list: them. If they were apart, what was going to happen with them? Sure, Sean could come back to visit any other weekend, and Hanna could do that too, but they both were clever enough to know that that wasn’t going to last.

“What’s gonna happen to us?” Hanna finally said out loud what both of them were thinking. She couldn’t even look at him, instead, the floor looked much less sad than the whole conversation they were having. Or not having.

“I don’t know. I just know that we have to make the most out of the time I have left here in Rosewood, but we have to face the truth. I’m not going to be here this time next Saturday. Or Tuesday, for that matter”.

And with that, one of Hanna’s tears rolled down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away. But one after another, tears kept rolling down. _This is not fair_.

“Yeah, well, that sucks”, Hanna said, again, saying out loud what both of them were thinking. “It sucks that you have to go, it sucks that your parents won’t even let you stay here at least until the end of the semester, and it sucks that I’m gonna be here, alone, ‘cause you won’t be here”.

“Hey, hey, hey, you won’t be alone, you have your friends! Look at me”, Sean said, gently grabbing her chin. “I’m the one who’s going away, who’s gonna have to begin a new life somewhere else far from here, far from you, not knowing anyone or anything there”.

“I know, but… I’m going to miss you”.

“And I’m going to miss you too, Han”. Sean said. “We’ll get through this”. He waited for Hanna to say something, but she didn’t.

Hanna never thought about having a long distance relationship with a boyfriend, even though the internet gave her a lot of friends to talk and gossip and joke around with. But friendship was one thing, and a relationship was a completely different story. _I’m not ready for a long distance relationship. I can’t do it_. She couldn’t think about anything else. Sean offered her some tissues, and she used them to dry her cheeks and her eyes, obviously still teary.

“Please, don’t cry”, Sean said.

“I don’t want you to go”.

Sean looked at her, not knowing what to say. He kissed her gently at first, and a little bit harder then. After the kiss, their foreheads still touching and their eyes still closed, both let out a sigh.

“I better be going. It’s almost lunch time and your parents are going to be here at any moment, and I really don’t wanna be here with them around, now”. Hanna said.

“Yeah, I get it”, Sean said, letting out a little cackle. “But can we meet tomorrow? Let me call you later to give you the details”.

“Sure”, Hanna said, walking towards the door. “See you”.

They both got to the door, and Sean opened it for her. Right before getting out of the house, she felt a hand grabbing her arm and turning her around. When she was facing him, he kissed her one more time, just before saying…

“I love you”.

* * *

Hanna arrived at her street, and got to her front door. She put the key in the lock and got in the house. For her, it looked bigger than it really was. It felt bigger. Dot, her miniature pinscher came to greet her, but besides her, the house was empty. Her mom was out on a business trip, and she couldn’t talk to her about Sean, as she always did. She needed her mom to hug her after talking for a while and to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Hanna missed her mom. She needed her there but she wasn’t, and she couldn’t help but feeling miserable.

She opened the fridge but there was nothing edible in there… Well, there was, but nothing she felt like eating, anyways. She wasn’t even hungry. Instead, she grabbed a glass of water and drank it. She really was thirsty.

She was ready to lay back on the couch for the rest of the day, if she had to, but just when she was about to sit there, her phone beeped. _Message received_ , said the screen. It was from Emily.

_“Going to have lunch with Aria and Spencer at the mall._

_Let us know if you can and want to come! Em”_

_Ah, what the hell, at least I won’t be feeling like shit, here alone all day again_. She pressed Reply and typed a “Sure, I’ll meet you there” before pressing Send.

She went up her room to change her clothes, and took whatever she found in the closet. Everyone who really knew Hanna knew that she was very careful with what she wore, always wearing well-matched clothes with the adequate accessories. But not today, she didn’t feel like it.

When she went downstairs, she took the car keys and her purse, where she put her cellphone and her house keys, and went out the door. She got in her car and not even turning on the radio, she began to drive.

* * *

“Han! Over here!” Aria shouted.

They were at the same restaurant they always went when they met up to have lunch or dinner at the mall. Hanna let out a smile and walked over there.

“I knew you’d be here”, Hanna said, taking the seat next to Aria in the booth, across from Spencer and Emily. “Have you all ordered already?”

“Nope, we were waiting for you. We just got here, anyways… Five minutes ago”, Emily said, grabbing the menu to see what was the daily special.

“Well, you could have ordered, I’m not really hungry… but I’ll steal from your plates, if I may”, Hanna said, smirking. They always stole from each other’s plates.

“Sure!” Aria said, grabbing her hand. “We don’t want to push you, but… are you okay?”

“Yeah… Sean and I are going to spend tomorrow together. He’s going to Pittsburgh next Tuesday, it’s official. But I don’t know… I was at home when I got your text. I left Sean’s ‘cause I didn’t want to see his parents and I surely didn’t want to stay for lunch, like I did a lot of other times”.

“That’s what we thought… As Aria said, we didn’t want to push you, but we sent you that message just in case you wanted to come”, Spencer said, to which Aria and Emily nodded.

Hanna started to think about them. They were the best friends a girl like her could have. They always knew when one of them was sad, and they always tried to make each other feel better. Just being around them made time just seem to fly by.  She could always count on them to have a good time. Anything would be better than the current issue with Sean.

At that moment, the waiter came to take their order, and once they ordered, the waiter headed towards the kitchen. He looked confused when the others ordered some food but Hanna just ordered a Diet Coke. It was true, that short time with Sean made her lose the appetite.

“Anyways”, Hanna said after a while, “the thing is, I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep dating once he leaves. I’m not sure if I’m ready for a long distance relationship”. The three girls were staring at her, listening to her. “It’s going to be different, that’s for sure, but I don’t know exactly how different”.

“That’s the thing, Han. You never know these things. But you can’t be all pessimist. Just… One step at a time”, Spencer said, “Make the most out of tomorrow with him, and when he’s not here anymore… you just need to see how it goes”.

After that, Hanna smiled. Spencer was right. They needed to see how it went… Not everything was already lost. She wasn’t going to give up yet, not before they tried, at least.

After a while, Hanna finally nodded and smiling she said “Yeah, your right. Thank you, guys”.

The waiter came back with the order and put it on the table. Cobb salad for Aria, Macaroni and Cheese for Spencer and Fettuccini for Emily. He went back to the back, and returned to the table with the beverages for the girls. Water for everyone but Hanna, who had her Diet Coke.

“Thanks!” Emily said to him as he went away.

“So what did you do today after I left? You didn’t stay at home sleeping some more, did you?” Hanna asked, teasing.

“No, we didn’t”, said Emily. “Well… you could say that”, she said smiling. “We were comfy in the sofas and spent the morning watching TV and commenting on people’s clothes and some of the things they said”.

“And I missed that? Why?!” Hanna said, she loved to talk about fashion (or the lack of it) with anyone. Even someone who didn’t know a single thing about clothes or combinations.

The girls laughed and started to talk about some of the things they saw on TV that morning. For a while, Hanna forgot about her problems. The girls had the ability to do that. Always. Remember that time when Mr. Marin went out the door and never came back? They were there. And when Dot, had to have that surgery because she ate something strange? They were there. They were always there through the good times and but also through the hard times.

“When’s your mom coming back?” Emily said after a while.

“I don’t know, I think she’ll be home on Monday, but I’m not sure. Why?”

“Oh, nothing. I was talking to my mom this morning and it turns out that she and your mom were talking the other day”, Emily said, and Hanna’s face turned to a surprised one. “Anyway, she wants you to know that you can come to our house whenever you need to, these nights you’re alone, and everything”, she paused for a while. “But that’s only if you want to”.

Even their moms talked to each other.

“Sure, why not? At least I won’t be home alone. That’s the last thing I’d like to be”. Hanna noticed how Aria was staring at Emily, like she just did something important, but she didn’t give it too much importance. “I’ll go home to grab some things and then I’ll go to your house”.

“Sure, I’ll tell my mom you’re coming”, she took her phone and began to write a message, “Just so she knows”.

* * *

When they finished eating, Aria took Emily and Spencer to their houses, as the three of them came in Aria’s car. Hanna had hers, so she went home to grab some clothes for the next day, when she had to meet Sean. She also took the time to have a shower… She didn’t want to abuse the Fields’ kindness. After getting ready for the second time that day, she went downstairs and checked if there was any voicemail in the landline, but there wasn’t.  _Who still uses that, anyways?_ So she got in the car again and drove to Em’s. When she got there, it was Mrs. Fields who opened.

“Hi, Hanna! Come in. Emily is upstairs. Emily! Hanna’s here!” Mrs. Fields said, calling her daughter downstairs.

“Thank you, Mrs. Fields, for letting me stay here”, Hanna said, coming in and leaving her things next to the door for a moment.

“Oh, please. You can call me Pam, you know that!”

“Thank you, Pam”, she answered, smiling.

“That’s more like it”, Pam winked at her and headed towards the kitchen.

“Hey! Come up. Bring your things, if you want”, Emily said, coming down a couple of steps, and Hanna took her things and went up to Em’s room. “My mom said you can sleep in my room, if you want to. If you don’t you can sleep in Carolyn’s. Up to you”, she said.

“Oh! Yeah, sure, yours is fine, thanks!” Hanna said.

“Cool, ‘cause my mom already brought here the things”, Emily said, smiling.

Hanna went into Em’s bedroom, and she saw what Em just said. Mrs. Fields had already made some room for the mattress. She was going to sleep on a mattress on the floor… But still, that was much better than sleeping at home, alone. Both of them finished putting everything in place and making the bed, so they didn’t have to do it later. It was still early, so they decided to do their homework… Emily was a really good student, always doing her homework on time and everything. Hanna, on the other side… Not so much. She liked to procrastinate. But she had nothing else to do, and the next day she wouldn’t be home, so she started to do her homework, too.

“What do we have?” Hanna asked.

“Chemistry”, Emily answered, it looked like she didn’t think about it. She must have noticed, ‘cause she blushed and quickly added “I mean, Mrs. Farabaugh gave us some homework to do”.

Hanna let out a cackle and Emily laughed too, while they were staring at each other. After a moment, Emily looked down, and started to write. Hanna kept staring at her. _What was that…?_ She didn’t know if Emily did it on purpose or not. _Could she possibly like me? But… like, like? Nah, I don’t think so! If so, why didn’t she tell me anything?_

“Hey, homework!” Hanna heard Emily say. Han was still distracted and quickly focused again. “Have you even started?”

Nope. She hadn’t started yet. _I better start right now or she’ll bark at me again!_ She opened the book, page 293, and read the first exercise.

“Ugh, this is boring. And useless. In the future, why would I need to know the chemical formula for acetylene or ammonia, anyways?!”

“Well, I don’t know in the future”, Emily said, staring at her, “but for now, I think it will help you pass the exam…”

“You’re such a buzz killer”, Hanna said, teasingly.

“I’m not, but I don’t want you flunking out, you know?” Emily answered, also teasing, but not really. “Plus, it’s better for you, and for me, to study in group… It’s less boring”.

“Yeah… but it’s still boring”.

“I know, I don’t like it, either. But that’s what we have to do”.

“Oh, come on, let’s talk about other things. Where’s Carolyn?” Hanna asked.

“She’s out, I think. But she’ll be home in time for dinner”.

At that moment, Emily’s phone beeped. She took it and read the message she just received.

“Uuuuhh, you blushed! Who is it? Any love interest?” Hanna asked, enthusiastic, as she always was when talking about things she was interested.

“Not really, no…” Emily said, looking down, still blushed.

“Come on! You can tell me, you know?”

Emily kept looking down but she didn’t answer. Instead, she took her phone and answered whoever it was that sent her a message, but she didn’t tell Hanna who was it. They both kept doing homework, seeing that neither of them was going to talk about something they both were willing to talk about.

After a while, Hanna looked at Emily, and she must have noticed, ‘cause she looked up, stared at Hanna and after a moment she said, “Everything is going to be fine with Sean, okay?”

There was something in the way she said it that made Hanna think. It sounded like a real concerned friend, but at the same time, it didn’t sound like that at all. She didn’t know what was happening to Emily. They used to tell each other everything… They were best friends, after all, but lately Emily wasn’t feeling up for it.

She just noticed how selfish she had been… Always talking about herself and Sean, and never even asking Em how she was and if she had met somebody. They haven’t really talked about Em, and now she felt guilty. She felt guilty ‘cause she had to listen to everyone’s crap and no one really listened to her. _But hey, she never really talks about it, either! It’s not completely our fault._ She decided not to ask her yet, but she definitely would do it later… maybe after dinner.

Pam’s voice came through the door from downstairs. “Girls, dinner! Come down!”

Emily closed her book and put it aside, getting up from the bed where she was lying, so focused on her homework a moment before. Hanna did the same, although she was sitting on Emily’s desk. Both of them went downstairs, where they saw Carolyn again. It looked like she just got there.

“Hi, Han! I’m glad you decided to come”, Carolyn said, smiling.

“Yeah! Thanks, Care”, Hanna said, returning her a smile.

The girls sat on the table on each in front of the other, and Carolyn next to Hanna. Mr. and Mrs. Fields were also across each other, chairing the table. The radio was on, and all of them were eating in silence, just listening to the music coming out of it, until Hanna’s phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and saw that it was Sean calling.

“Excuse me, I know it’s not polite but I really need to take this”, she said as she got up and walked towards the other room.

She heard Emily saying something to her family, which sounded something like “That must be Sean…” and something else she didn’t quite caught. When she got to the living room, she pressed “Answer” on the phone and took it to her ear.

“Sean?”

“Yeah. Listen, I’ll go pick you up around noon so we can have dinner out. I have to get everything ready to go, in the morning… ‘Cause I won’t have time on Monday with school and everything”.

“Yeah, sure, but I’m at Emily’s tonight… Mrs. Fields told me I could stay here until my mom comes back”.

“Okay, no worries. I’ll go pick you up there instead”.

“Okay! Listen, I have to go… we were just eating and you called in the middle of the dinner, so… see you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, go, go! Sorry”, Sean said, and Hanna could almost hear the way he smiled. “See you tomorrow. Love you!”

“Love you too! Bye”.

They both hung up and Hanna stared at the screen of her phone for a moment. _I don’t know what I am doing…_ She came back to the table and kept eating.

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have taken it”, Hanna said, apologetic.

“Don’t worry, Hanna. You said it was important, and we believe you”, Mrs. Fields said with a complicit smile. Emily was staring at her mom, nodding.

“Thank you, Mrs…” Hanna said, but Mrs. Fields interrupted her by making a little coughing sound. “I mean, thank you, Pam”.

* * *

Emily went to her room before Hanna. Hanna helped Mrs. Fields cleaning up, even though it looked like it was Carolyn’s turn to do that, ‘cause she was helping too. When she finished, she went upstairs, too, and Emily’s door was half closed. Instead of going in just like that, she decided to knock first, even though she was seeing Em through the crack. She was just lying there, looking at the ceiling.

“Yeah, come in!” Emily said, getting up and leaning on the headboard of the bed. “You don’t have to knock, you can come in whenever you like”.

“I will next time!” Hanna answered, sitting next to Em instead of sitting in the chair next to the desk. “So… How are you?”

“Uh… fine, how would I be?”

“Uh-uh, nope. I know you and you don’t look _fine_. Is something wrong?”

Em slid and looked up again, with the difference that Hanna was now in the middle of her sight. Hanna sighed and waited for her to say something, but she didn’t.

“Okay, fine. Then we won’t talk about anything”, she said as she leaned on the headboard.

“There’s nothing wrong, I was just thinking”, Em finally said.

“What is keeping your mind busy?”

“I was thinking about you, actually”.

_About…?_

“About me? Why?” Hanna asked, surprised.

“I don’t know”, she said, still staring at the ceiling. “I just don’t want you to be sad or get hurt when Sean leaves”.

Hanna didn’t know what to say. Of course she was going to be sad. Of course she was going to get hurt, tomorrow, when she last _saw_ him alone… At school on Monday didn’t count. But what could she do? What could she possibly do?

“I think nobody really asked you this… But how do you really feel about it?” Emily asked, finally looking at her.

That was true, nobody ever asked her that. She slid too and was now in the same position as Em, and she stared at the ceiling, too. She was quiet for a while, and Emily respected her silence.

“I don’t know. I mean… I know I said before that Spencer was right, that we could figure it out, but the truth is… I don’t wanna be in a long distance relationship. Not with Sean, not with anyone. I mean, I love him and all… but I don’t want to spend my adolescence hanging in there, you know?”

Hanna stopped talking for a moment, waiting for Emily to say something, but she didn’t. Instead, she was staring at her, listening carefully.

“But I don’t wanna be alone either…” she continued, at the risk of sounding selfish, “and I know that it sounds selfish, I know, but I spend most of the time alone… at home, at school, at the mall… everywhere. And it sucks”.

“But you’re not alone. You’ll never be alone”, Emily said, sitting up. “Aria and Spencer will always be here. I will always be here”, she said, stressing the “I”.

_What did you mean by that?_

“I know, but it’s not the same… I love being around you, guys, it’s the best moment of the day, but…” but she didn’t say anything else.

Emily got up and closed the door, which Hanna left wide open when she came in. _Wha…?_ After that, she lied in bed again, just as before.

“You know the message I received before?” Emily asked and Hanna nodded. “It was from Aria. She wanted to know how everything was over here… and by _over here_ she meant with you on the one hand, and with me on the other”.

“And you blushed. Why did you blush?”

For Hanna, everything was starting to fall into place, now. Emily looked at her for a moment. The she looked again at the ceiling. She was blushing again.

“Do I really have to say it?” She asked.

“Please…!” Hanna said, making eyes at her.

“Ugh, don’t look at me that way!” Emily said and looked the other way, as if preparing herself to say what she was about to say. Hanna was staring at her, and she looked into her eyes right before saying, “I like you”.


	3. Can I sleep with you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily's POV again? Yes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, and please, be critical with it!! I mean... comment if you like it, comment if you don't, please!! I'd love to read YOU!!

_Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Did I say that out loud? Did I? Oh my God!_ Emily tried to keep calm, and, shockingly, she kind of did… Yes, her heart was beating fast, but she was trying hard not look nervous in any way.

Emily would’ve given anything to know what Hanna was thinking in that very moment. The blonde was staring at her, she was smiling, but she didn’t laugh at her. Instead, the first thing Hanna did was get up, come closer to Emily and hug her.

“But why didn’t you tell me before?” Hanna asked.

_It’s obvious, isn’t it?_

“Well, why would I? I mean, you’re with Sean, you’re straight, and I didn’t know how you would take it”.

Hanna kept quiet for a while. Her smile almost disappeared from her face. _Uh-oh…_ Emily didn’t say anything, she decided to let Hanna process the news and how she felt about it or whatever was in her mind. But Em’s face changed, too, she wanted to know what she was thinking.

“I’m with Sean”, Hanna said. “I’m with Sean and in two days… I won’t be, anymore”.

“What do you mean, ‘you won’t be’?” Emily asked, disconcerted.

“I’m with Sean… but I won’t be, anymore”. It looked like Hanna had some kind of epiphany.

“I don’t understand”, Emily said. _What is happening right now?_

“I’m gonna break up with him”.

“What? Why?”

“Oh, come on, you like me and you worry about me breaking up with Sean?” Hanna asked, which made Emily cringe.

“I do, because Sean is the person that makes you happy. And that’s all I want you to be”, Emily explained.

“I thought you’d be happier if I broke up with him”, Hanna said.

“That’s not how it works”.

“And how does it work, then?”

“I’m well aware that you’re straight and you won’t even think of me in any other way than our friendship”, Emily began to say. _Ugh, this is hard_. “So instead of wanting you to be with me, or force you, or whatever you wanna call it, I just want you to be happy. By whatever means necessary”.

“Is that why I’m here?” Hanna asked. “I’m here with you and your family because you didn’t want me to be home alone feeling like crap?”

“Nope. That was my mom. But now that you mention it… Yes, I’m glad our moms talked and I’m glad you’re here, instead of home alone feeling like crap”, Em answered, smiling at her. “Even though this is the last conversation I thought I would have with you tonight”.

“Why is that? You weren’t going to tell me, were you?”

“I wasn’t, but I had to let it out of my chest. Aria told me it would…”

“Wait, Aria knows?” Hanna interrupted, and Emily nodded. “And Spencer?”

“I didn’t tell her… But knowing her, I’m sure she does”.

Both of them laughed at the same time.

“Yeah, she knows everything…” Hanna concluded. “I just… I don’t know how I didn’t notice”.

“No one did… Just ask my sister, not even her”, Emily said, “I guess I’m pretty good at hiding things I don’t want to be known”.

“Yeah, you really are…” Hanna said, and paused for a minute. “Wait, Carolyn, too? Since when does she know?”

“Since… since us three went to the mall. She knew I liked somebody, but I didn’t tell her it was you. When we came to pick her up, she knew”.

“And Aria?”

“Before lunch”.

“So she planned the sleepover already knowing?” Hanna asked.

“Yeah… And I’m glad, I had fun and at least you didn’t have to be with Sean if you didn’t want to”, Emily said, and she realized something. “But now that I think about that, why didn’t you? I mean, you already knew he was going and you decided to come to the sleepover anyways”.

“Yeah… I needed time to figure things out. I didn’t want to be with him, at his house, with his parents around, talking about how shitty they are for making him move out of Rosewood”.

“Yeah, I get it”, Em said, nodding. “Well, you will be able to do that tomorrow. When are you meeting him, anyways?”

“I told him I was here, I hope you don’t mind”, Hanna said, and Emily shook her head. “He’s gonna pick me up at around noon… He wants to go eat somewhere, I don’t know where”.

“Okay, then let me go tell my mom you won’t have lunch here”, Emily said as she got up from the bed and headed towards the door she had closed a while before.

“Okay”, Hanna said, lying in bed. “I’ll be here”.

Emily went down the stairs and to the living room, where Carolyn and Pam were watching the TV. Em mouthed an “I told her” to her sister, and she open her mouth, surprised. She was going to get up and go talk to her little sister, but her little sister raised her hand as saying “wait”.

“Mom?” Emily said, and Pam, who didn’t notice she was there, looked at her. “Hanna won’t be eating with us tomorrow, Sean will come pick her up around noon and they’ll have lunch out”.

“That’s okay, honey. The four of us will be”, Pam answered.

“Where’s dad?”

“He went to sleep already… He was tired. And Hanna and you should be, too. Why don’t you go sleep, already? It’s late”, Pam said.

“It’s only 11:00pm… and it’s a weekend, it’s not late! But yeah, we’ll try… Good night!”

“Good night!” Pam said. “Tell Hanna good night, too”.

Carolyn got up. “I’ll go read in my bed… let’s see if I fall asleep or something. Good night, mom”. She went to the stairs where Emily was, and whispering so neither their mom nor Hanna would hear them, she said, “You told her?! How was it?”

“It was fine… Weird, but fine. It looked like she knew, but she didn’t, and she didn’t take it in a bad way”, Carolyn nodded, smiling. “But I’ll tell you tomorrow when she’s not here… She’s there waiting and mom told us to go sleep already”.

“I’m glad for you, sis”, Carolyn said as she hugged her. “Let’s talk tomorrow. Good night to you both!”

“Good night, sis!”

Emily went upstairs and into her room. She was still in Em’s bed, in the same position she was before.

“My mom says good night”, Em said, looking at her. “And also… don’t worry about tomorrow, there’s no problem with you not being here for lunch”.

“Good!” Hanna said, an immediately looked down.

Emily felt the need to ask her what was happening, but she didn’t. Instead, she closed the door and sat in her bed, in front of her. Seeing that Hanna wasn’t going to talk, she held the blonde’s hand with both her hands. Hanna didn’t even try to take her hand back, which gave Emily a rush of confidence.

“What’s up?”

“I really don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow”, Hanna explained, still looking down.

“Just… Do whatever you feel like doing. See how it goes. Nobody’s gonna blame you if you stay with him, and nobody’s gonna blame you if you break up with him. You just need to stay true to what you feel”. Emily said. Hanna kept quiet for a while, her hand still between both of Em’s. Emily didn’t want Hanna to think she was saying that based on her own feelings. “Everything’s gonna be fine whatever you do”.

“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right. We’ll see what happens”, Hanna said, smiling at her friend. “Hey… Can I sleep here?”

_What?_

“Don’t tease me”, Emily said, letting go of Hanna’s hand.

“I’m not!” Hanna said, laughing. “I just… Your bed is big and it really looks comfier than the mattress on the floor… I won’t get too close to you, if that’s what you’re worried about”.

“I’m not worried about that, in fact, I was going to tell you that you can sleep here, but after coming clean I didn’t think…” Emily said, but she didn’t finish the sentence. She was trying not to shiver.

“And I don’t mind, so…”

“Okay, then”, Emily said, getting up to turn off the lights. She got into her bed and let Hanna get in it, too. Em stared at the ceiling… She was used to look to the right, out the window, but Hanna was on her right. The blonde did look out the window.

“By the way”, Hanna said, turning around for a moment to see Emily, and touching Em’s hand with hers, she added, “I would’ve never taken it in a bad way”.

* * *

After lunch, Emily went upstairs to her room and stared out the window. The street was like a desert. She decided to start one of those papers she asked her teachers to get her grades up, but she didn’t have the time to get her books and open her laptop.

“Hey, I’m going to the mall, do you wanna come?” Carolyn said from the door, scaring her sister, who didn’t expect anyone to be there.

“Don’t do that!” Emily smirked at her big sister. “Are you… going to see Dan?”

Carolyn blushed. “That wasn’t in my plan, but now that you mention it…” She smirked back at Emily. “I was going to buy a small fridge. The one I have in college broke and I need one to store all the food mom is making me take with me”.

“You know mom, she’s not happy if you don’t eat!” Emily mimicked her mom’s voice to say that. “I was going to start one of the papers I have to do, but yeah. I can start it later, I still have plenty of time”.

“And we can talk about…” Carolyn didn’t finish the sentence, but Emily knew exactly what she meant.

“Yeah, yeah, but not here… Let’s go! But I pick the music”.

“Okaaay, okay, you pick the music… but I drive”, Carolyn said as they both went down the stairs and took their keys.

“Mom! We’re leaving!”

“Wait, where are you going both of you?” Pam asked, “And Hanna?”

“Oh, we’re going to the mall to buy the small fridge I told you about”, Carolyn said.

“And I don’t know when Hanna will come… I guess it depends on how it goes with Sean. But if she comes, you can tell her she can go into my room, I don’t mind. We won’t take too long”.

“Okay then. Off you go!” Pam said, “Can you bring some tuna? We’re out of it”.

“Sure, will do. Bye!”

“Bye, girls!”

The girls got into Carolyn’s car and Emily turned on the radio. She tuned in her favorite radio station, one of the Top 40s. A song by Lady Gaga came out the speakers. Gaga wasn’t one of her favorites, so she turned the volume down a little.

“Ahem… We’re alone now, you know?” Carolyn said, inquiring.

“Okay… Well. There’s not much to say. We were talking about Sean and she saw that I was being weird at the moment and after a while she asked”, Emily said, pausing for a moment. “Well, she didn’t asked directly. The thing is that Aria had sent me a message, ‘cause she knows, too, and she thought it was from someone I liked ‘cause I blushed”.

“What did she say? Aria, I mean”.

“She asked how everything was at home, ‘cause she knew Hanna would be there by that moment. After a while I told Hanna that it was from Aria and what the message said and I think that she started to connect the dots, ‘cause in the end she didn’t ask directly but she made me say it anyways”.

“And you said it”, Carolyn said, looking at her little sister.

“And I said it”, Emily stated. “And I don’t regret it, but things got weird…er after that”.

“Weirder?”

“Yes, I never thought I was going to tell her, that’s the weird part. But then we talked about Sean and what was she going to do, and then, the weirdest thing. She asked me if she could sleep in my bed with me”.

By that moment, they were already in the parking lot of the mall. While they parked the car, and got out of it, Carolyn said, “Oh. My. God. She really said that?”

“Imagine my surprise”, Emily said, looking at her. They both headed towards the mall. “Rive Gauche first?”

Carolyn nodded. “We will have a reason to go before it gets weird… The small fridge!”

Emily laughed. _Yeah, sure… He likes you, but you like him too!_ “Okay, okay… chicken!”

“Nooo, not a chicken!” Both laughed again, even though Carolyn was blushing as of that moment.

“Anyways, I told her I didn’t mind… she asked, not me”.

“Sure…” Carolyn said, smirking.

“Oh, shut up!” Emily said, smiling back at her and bumping her arm against her sister’s. “I woke up this morning and she was there by my side and I almost freaked out. Then I remembered. She was still sleeping, faced to me… and she was beautiful”.

“I bet she was, sis”, Carolyn agreed. “I can understand how you fell for her…” Emily gave her sister an understanding look. “What do you think she’s doing right now?”

Dan was working that afternoon and when Carolyn saw him, Emily noticed she blushed. The booth where they sat the other day was empty, so they sat there again. Of course, it was Dan’s section. But he didn’t notice it was them sitting there until he came to take their order. His head held down, he didn’t look at them until Carolyn spoke.

“Hi, I’m Dan, what can I get you?”

“Uhm… Coke for me and…” Carolyn said and waited for her sister to ask, too.

Dan heard her voice and looked up immediately, smile on his face.

“Carolyn! I didn’t notice!”

_Oh my God. He really likes her. He even remembers her name!_

“I thought so…” Carolyn said, smiling at him. “Emily?”

“Oh! Yeah… I’ll have a coke, too. And can you bring some tater tots or something to eat?”

“Sure! I’ll be back”, he said as he went away.

When she was sure he wouldn’t hear her, Emily looked at her sister and said “He likes you. You like him. Crystal clear”.

“Shut up!” Carolyn said, trying to keep a low voice. “What you want me to do? I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna be here in Rosewood a lot of time”.

“I think we just found a good reason for you to come back more often…” Emily smirked at her sister, and caused Carolyn to give her a killer look. “Okay, okay, I won’t say anything else…” Carolyn nodded. “For now!”

Dan came back from the bar with the two Cokes and some tater tots in a plate.

“There you go. Enjoy!” Carolyn and Emily smiled and thanked him. He was about to go, but he turned around again. “Actually… My shift ends in half an hour. Do you… both want to do something?”

The sisters looked at each other. _See? I told you!_ But Carolyn was looking at her sister as if she didn’t know what to say, so Emily smiled at her and nodded.

“We, uh… We are buying a new small fridge. You can come if you want…” Carolyn said.

“Oh, yeah, I can do that. Will you stay here until then?”

Carolyn looked at her sister again, asking for confirmation.

“Yeah, sure!” Emily said. “We’ll wait, don’t worry”.

“Okay! Thanks, Emily”, Dan said, with a smile on his face, turning back to the bar to attend to some other customer.

_And he remembers mine, too? Yep. He totally likes her._

“Oh, god, what did I just do?” Carolyn looked at him, he was pouring some coffee in a cup, at the bar. “Really, tell me, ‘cause I don’t know”.

“You did nothing wrong. You said it was okay for him to come with us later”.

“Let’s… let’s stop talking about this. How… Uh… Where were we?”

“Oh my god, you’re nervous! Don’t be! It’s just three people buying a small fridge together. But… don’t mind me”, Emily said, and Carolyn gave her another killer look. “Don’t woooorry, I’ll be there all the time”.

“Good. Now… I asked you something. What do you think she’s doing right now?”

“Yeah, I didn’t wanna talk about that, so I’m glad Dan got in the way for a while…” Emily answered, trying to avoid keep talking.

“But he’s not here now, so you can start talking”.

Now it was Emily the one to give her sister a killer look, but she resigned herself to talk.

“Okay, okay… Well. She told me she was going to break up with him”.

“No way!!” Carolyn shouted, and even Dan, at the other side of the Rive Gauche, heard her. “Sorry, sorry!” She said loudly. Then she lowered her voice to keep talking to Em. “But she loves him, and he loves her… Why?”

“I really don’t know. She said she wasn’t ready for a long distance relationship”.

“Well… you’re close to her”, Carolyn said, smirking.

“Shut up!” Emily whispered. The amount of killer looks was now uncountable.

“I just want you to be happy. And I know she could do that. You know… If she wasn’t straight. But now I’m not really sure about that”.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Sleeping in your bed? By your side? Knowing what you had just told her?”

“No, no, no, don’t be like that”, Emily answered, “she said she felt comfier”. She paused for a moment. “But now that I think of it… She was looking towards the window and she turned for a moment, put her hand on mine, and said she would’ve never taken it in a bad way…”

“Really?! I guess we’ll have to see what happens. Now that she’ll be boyfriendless you can…” Carolyn said, but Emily quickly interrupted.

“No! I’m not the type of girl who jumps at the first opportunity. I told her I’d be here for her, but that’s it”. Emily was dead serious.

“Ahem… are you telling me that if, hypothetically, she wants to have something with you, you’re not gonna jump on that opportunity?”

“Of course I would, I’m a nice person, not an idiot”, Emily said, and Carolyn laughed. “But I mean… That’s not gonna happen. The thing is… I’m not gonna push her”.

“Like you’re not pushing me with Dan?” Carolyn said, almost whispering, and Emily laughed.

“Not the same!”

“Oh, I think it’s exactly the same!” Carolyn said. “Oh, I think he’s coming. Let me talk to Hanna tonight, at home… Let’s see what she tells me”.

“Why?” Emily said, but Carolyn just moved her head as if saying _please_. “Okay… But don’t push her”.

“I won’t. Promised”, Carolyn said, pleased.

After a moment, Dan was already at their table. He wasn’t wearing the apron he has to wear when working, and the t-shirt and trousers he was wearing looked really good on him. Emily didn’t notice that, but by the look on her sister’s face, she knew she liked it.

“I’m done! Your drinks on me, like I said the other day. Let’s go!” He said, and the sisters looked at each other, pleased. “By the way, where’s your friend? The one with the sex on the beach…” Dan said, not being able to let out a smile.

Both Emily and Carolyn laughed. “Hanna. She’s with her boyfriend today”, Emily said.

“Soon to be ex-boyfriend”, Carolyn said.

“We don’t know that!” Emily objected. “Long story. Anyways… Dan, do you know anything about small fridges?”

“Not a single thing. We have one in Rive Gauche, but that’s it. But… we can read and we can ask. What is it for?”

“It’s for me, actually. The one I had at college is broken and I need one there”. Carolyn said looking at Dan. “Lucky me, the mall is open on Sundays, ‘cause I totally forgot to come buy it yesterday”.

“Lucky you, but unlucky me, I had to work… But totally worth it”. Dan said, and Carolyn blushed.

They were already in a shop with tons of electrical appliances of all kinds. Dan and Carolyn were talking about college and work and small fridges and big fridges. Emily wasn’t really paying attention. Now that no one was talking to her, she started thinking about the two conversations. The one she just had with her sister and the one she had the night before with Hanna. The truth is, now it felt more real. _I mean… Carolyn must be right. Why would Hanna make me say it, then tell me she would break up with Sean, and then take my hand just to tell me she wouldn’t have never taken it in a bad way?_ That very moment, Hanna taking her hand, was all over her head. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. _What did that mean?_

Emily just kept following Dan and Carolyn around, like a kid following her parents through those long and narrow aisles in a supermarket. _I just… I don’t to be some kind of experiment for her._ And just as she was thinking that, her phone beeped, so she took it out of her pocket and read the message she just received.

“Carolyn?” Emily called her. Both Carolyn and Dan turned and faced her.

“Yeah?” Carolyn said, and Emily came closer to her and showed her the message she had just received.

_We broke up. Please, please come pick me up._

_I’m at the park besides the mall. Hanna._

“That’s five minutes from here on foot”, Carolyn said to Em. “Do you want me to…?”

“No, no, I’ll go. I’ll see you by the car later… Take your time”, Emily winked at her sister, and headed towards the exit.

* * *

Emily saw Hanna from afar. She wasn’t crying, which was good. She came closer to the blonde, and when she was about six feet from her, she uttered a “Hey”.

Hanna got up from the bench she was sitting in. Emily hugged her and asked her if she was okay.

“Yeah… Hey, how did you get here so fast?”

“We were at the mall, so…”

“Oh. It makes sense, then”, Hanna said. “Wait, _we_?”

“Yep. Me and Carolyn. You’re never gonna believe it…”

“What?!” Hanna asked, sounding really curious.

“She’s with… Dan! We came to buy a small fridge for Carolyn but we ended up having a drink before. Dan was working and his shift ended, so he came along”.

“No way! I knew it!” Hanna said with a big smile on her face.

“Yep… I don’t know if we’ll see Dan, but we will see Carolyn later. She better tell us what is happening right now".

“Yes!”

“She said she wanted to talk to you, regardless of what happened today… What happened today?”

They both were quiet for a while, and they sat on the bench Hanna was sitting moments before. Hanna was looking down. She looked like she was thinking what to say or how to say it.

“We, uh… We talked. We didn’t fight, which is good. I told him everything I told you last night… I mean, about the long distance relationships and not being ready for them, and everything”, she paused for a moment. “I could see he was hurt, but I think he saw me hurting too, ‘cause he didn’t raise his voice or said a strong word against me or anything”.

“Good, ‘cause if he did, I would be the one using one or two strong words against him”, Emily said.

Hanna laughed and looked at Emily for the first time since she started to speak. She was smiling at the blonde.

“I know you like me, and talking about Sean must be killing you, but I’m really glad I can talk to you about these things”, Hanna said, apologetic.

She was right. Talking about Sean was killing her, but she didn’t mind. She worried about Hanna. She didn’t worry about herself. Like she said to her before, she just wanted Hanna to be happy.

“Don’t worry about me, I told you!”

“Thanks, Em”, Hanna said, looking at her.

“Come here”. Emily gave her a kiss on the cheek and a hug which lasted a couple of seconds less than she would’ve wanted. But still.

“No, really, Em. Thanks. You’re the only one I can always count on”.

“Shut up! You’re making me blush!” Emily said, looking away from Hanna and staring at the ground. “Now… what do you say we go to the car? Either we’ll wait for Carolyn or she’ll be waiting already for us”.

“And Dan?”

“I don’t know… Let’s go”.

Emily got up and held out her hand. Hanna took it and got up, too, but this time it was Hanna the one properly hugging Emily. The brunette hugged her back and felt really good in the blonde’s arms. _If I’m never gonna have her, I’ll have to make the most of these little things._ Once they separated, they both walked towards the parking lot where Carolyn’s car was.

They saw Carolyn and Dan in the distance, by the car, talking and laughing. Carolyn noticed Em and Hanna approaching them and waved.

“Hey!” She said.

“Hi, Carolyn!” Hanna said. “Hi, Dan!”

“Hi, Hanna. Em”, Dan said, looking first at the blonde and then at the brunette.

“Did you buy the small fridge already?” Emily asked, looking at her sister as if saying _He’s still here? Cute!_

“Yes! It’s in the trunk. It’s smaller than the one I had, but it does its function”, Carolyn said. “Dan helped me bringing it. In fact, he brought it himself”.

“Yeah… It’s heavy. And I didn’t want her to get bored while waiting for you, guys, so…” He said, blushing a little.

Emily looked at Carolyn and then at Hanna. The three of them were thinking the same.

“Thanks!” Emily said. “You know, for staying with her while I went to the park. Well, for everything!”

“I have my car here, so I’ll better get going, I figured you’d like talk and go home, too”, Dan said.

“Okay!! Thanks again”, Emily said. “See you!”

“See you!” Repeated Hanna.

Both of them got in the back of the car and sat together. Carolyn stayed out a little bit more, saying goodbye to Dan. She thought the other two couldn’t hear them, but… they did.

“So I guess I’ll see you… next weekend?” Dan said.

“I don’t know… I have your phone number, now, and you have mine. I’ll let you know”.

_They exchanged phone numbers!_

“Okay! Take care. And take care of them!”

_Wait, “of them”? What did she tell him?_

“I will. See you!” Carolyn answered.

Dan gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked away. Carolyn got in the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. She saw the girls through the rearview mirror, and they were both staring at her.

“Okay… you heard that, didn’t you?”

“We sure did”, Hanna said, excited. “Dan and Carolyn! Darolyn!”

“Let’s not rush things!” Carolyn said, blushing. “We exchanged phone numbers, but that’s it”.

“Sure, that’s it…” Emily said, smirking. “It’s okay, he seems like a really nice guy”.

“He is”, Carolyn quickly answered. “I don’t know him much more than I did three hours ago, but he’s really nice”, she paused for a moment. The girls were still looking at her through the rearview mirror. “Anyways, we’ll talk later. How was everything, Hanna?”

“Well… Not good, but not bad, either. So I’m there, in the middle… I don’t know”. Hanna answered.

She had her hand in the middle seat in the back. Emily put her hand on top of the blonde’s, and looked at her. Han looked at Em for a second, then kept looking to the rearview mirror. The weirdest thing? The blonde didn’t move her hand away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? How do you thing this is going to continue? :D


	4. But... Am I?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get again Hanna's POV!! (Can you see the pattern? haha)   
> I hope you enjoy it!

“Okay, so Emily goes away, and we stay in the shop, looking through more small fridges until we find one. We were talking about college and work and everything. I don’t know,” Carolyn said. “He picked it up and carried it all over the place. I told him it was okay, he didn’t need to, but he did it anyways.”

Hanna and Emily were listening to her, attentive. The three girls were in Carolyn’s room. It was almost supper time.

“So I told him about me being away during the school year. He told me about his job and how boring it is.”

“Yeah, sure, boring…!” Hanna teased.

“That’s what he said! Although then he said that you meet nice people while working there. And _nicer_ people,” Carolyn said.

“That being you,” Emily interrupted.

“Ahem… So we went to the car, how we agreed on, and waited for you.”

“Hey, but we heard you say something about phone numbers…?” Emily said. She heard it fine, but she wanted her sister to say it.

“Yeah, yeah, we exchanged phone numbers, I told you that, already.”

“So I guess what I said to you was right? Did we find a good reason for you to come back here more often?” Emily said, smirking at her sister.

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to see what happens…” Carolyn started to say. “I think I like him,” she said, and both Hanna and Emily looked at each other, surprised.

“That’s the first time you said that. Not us, you!” Emily said. “I guess I’ll have to bear with you more weekends than usually…” she laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, bear with me… you love me, you don’t have to bear with me,” Carolyn said, teasing her sister, and Emily nodded, smiling. She was probably right. “But no more about me! Hanna?”

Hanna looked down instantly, she didn’t wanna talk about it, particularly if Emily was there, listening too.

“I think I’m gonna go help mom in the kitchen. You two have a pending conversation, anyways,” Emily said, getting up of the chair she was sitting on. “I’ll leave you two alone!”

She went out of Carolyn’s room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Both girls kept quiet for a while, but when they were sure she couldn’t hear them, Carolyn insisted. She was really direct when she talked to anybody, that’s for sure.

“I don’t like to talk about these things in front of her. She asked me and I told her I was fine ‘cause I don’t wanna hurt her. Since I know that she has a crush on me…”

“No, no, no. Don’t be confused. She’s in love with you. It’s not just a crush,” Carolyn interrupted, which made Hanna look at her.

“I know, I just… I don’t know,” Hanna said. “I guess some other girls liked me, too, but no one this close to me.”

“So…?”

“So it’s different. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say.”

“How do you feel about it?”

Hanna thought for a moment. How could she put it? “Well, on the one hand, I feel like crap for hurting her with the whole Sean thing. On the other hand, I kinda like having someone taking care of me like she does,” Hanna said. “And yes, I know that that sounds selfish, but I…”

“No, not selfish. I think I’d feel the same if this happened to me,” said Carolyn, agreeing with her. “The thing is… we’re talking about my sister. And as much as I don’t want you to get hurt, I don’t want you to hurt her, either. And I’m not talking about talking with her about Sean or any other guy. That you can do, even if she doesn’t like it. She’ll have to deal with it.”

“Then…?”

“I’m talking about misleading her. I know about you two sleeping together, for example.”

“I wasn’t trying to mislead her, I just…”

“I know, you thought it was comfier. She wasn’t misled, ‘cause she’s innocent and doesn’t think about it, but these things could lead to misunderstandings,” Carolyn said, explaining.

_Wait, did she tell her everything or what?_

“What else did she tell you?” Hanna asked, curious.

“Not much. Don’t worry… Whatever you do or you don’t it’s on you,” Carolyn said, smiling.

“The thing is…” Hanna started to say after a moment, but she didn’t continue.

After a moment, Carolyn asked. “The thing is…?”

“I don’t know if I’m misleading her on purpose.”

“What do you mean?” Carolyn asked, but Hanna didn’t answer. “Are you having second thoughts?” She asked this almost whispering.

“I don’t know. I guess I have mixed feelings,” Hanna admitted. _Why did I say that?_

“What do you mean, mixed feelings?”

“I honestly don’t even know.” Hanna stated. “I wish I could explain it, but I can’t.”

They both kept quiet for a while. Hanna really didn’t know what to say, she was thinking about a lot of things at the same time: This conversation, Sean, Emily, her feelings, she was even thinking about her thoughts. Redundant, yes.

The thing is, since Emily came out of the closet to her closest friends, Hanna felt even closer to her. She loved how brave she was to do it, how natural and normal she was. In a way, she was jealous of that bravery. She admired her. _I mean… I love guys, you know?_ But Hanna couldn’t deny it. The brunette had already started to pave her way right into her heart.

“Look, I’m gonna tell you something I said to her. I’m not pushing you, okay? At all,” Carolyn said after a while. “I said to her, and I quote, that if you weren’t straight, I know you could make her happy. And this I didn’t say, but obviously she could make you happy, too. But you’re straight…”

“But…” Hanna paused for a moment. “Am I?”

Hanna raised her head just to see Carolyn’s surprised look. Em’s sister was sitting there, looking at her, open-mouthed.

“Are you saying…?” Carolyn started to ask, but Hanna interrupted.

“I’m saying that it felt really good to sleep last night by her side, that it felt really good having her hand on mine…”

“Wait, when did that happen?” Now it was Carolyn the one who interrupted.

“Yesterday in the car, when we were coming back from the mall,” Hanna explained.

“Oh, I see…”

“But I don’t know if this is because I know about her feelings for me or because I really feel it, too.”

“Give it a week,” Carolyn said. “I mean… I can understand why you might be confused right now.”

A voice from downstairs came into Carolyn’s room.

“Girls, let’s eat!” Pam shouted.

“Coming! One more minute, please!” Carolyn shouted, and then kept talking to Hanna. “I was saying… I can understand, you must be thinking about a lot of things ‘cause everything is happening at the same time. Sean, Emily, your mom not being home…” she paused. “In a week, when everything is already calmed down and you’d have time to think clearly, let’s see what are your mind and your heart telling you.”

Hanna didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say.

“I’m gonna speak bluntly, may I?” Carolyn asked, and Hanna nodded. “You need to stay away from both of them. It’s gonna be easy with Sean, ‘cause he’s leaving, but not so easy with Em, ‘cause you have some classes with her, I think,” Hanna nodded again. “Not today, of course, but talk to her… talk to her and tell her you need some alone time to think.”

“But that’s not fair to her.”

“It’s less fair for her if you make her believe in something and then you break that belief. You know what I mean?” Carolyn said. “Give me your phone.”

Hanna took her phone out of her pocket and gave it to Carolyn.

“If you want, I can tell her to give you some time, if you don’t wanna do it,” Carolyn said while writing something in Hanna’s phone. “Here, now you have my phone number. If you need anything… don’t go to Em, just text me. Anytime. That way it will be easier for you to stay away from her and get your thoughts and feelings straight.”

“Thank you, Care... I really appreciate this,” Hanna said, getting up. “Just… can you tell her?”

Carolyn got up too and hugged Hanna. “Of course. I’ll tell her tomorrow. Don’t worry. And please, please call me if you need anything. I’m serious.”

“I will!” Hanna said, smiling at her. “Let’s go or they’ll starve waiting for us…”

“Yeah...” Carolyn said, and both of them laughed. “Let’s go.”

* * *

The next morning, Hanna woke up next to Emily. She laid there for a moment, looking at her, before getting up trying not to wake the brunette up. She wanted to gather all her things. After all, she would be going home after school that day. Mrs. Marin would be there and also, she decided to accept Carolyn’s advice right away.

She started to pick up her books, spread all over Em’s desk, and put them in her bag.

“Good morning, Han,” Emily said, still lying in bed, startling Hanna, who didn’t expect that.

“Good morning!” Hanna replied, “I’m gathering my things. My mom will be home, I think, after school today, so…”

“Oh, yeah. Sure! Let me help you,” Emily said, getting up.

“No, no, you can stay there… we still have some time before going to school… I can do it,” Hanna said, smiling at her.

Emily lied in bed again. “Okay…” and after a while she added, “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” Hanna quickly answered. “It’s just that I’m almost done.”

It sure was going to be a really hard week… And nobody had told Emily yet. But Hanna didn’t feel strong enough to tell her. She wanted to stay there, with Emily, with someone. Sure, she had her mom… But it wasn’t going to be the same.

“You must be really happy to see your mom today,” Emily said after a while.

“Yes! I miss her,” said Hanna. _And I’ll miss you, too, this week._

“Let’s see how it goes… I hope she doesn’t have to go any time soon.”

The blonde nodded. _And if she does… At least I have you._

Hanna really wanted her mom to stay home, especially that week that she was gonna be apart from Sean and Emily. She needed her and wanted to hug her, and tell her about Sean, and tell her about Emily. Who is best than your mom to make you feel better? _Mom always knows what to do or what to say._

“Hey, Em, can you come for a minute?” Carolyn called from the door and looked at Hanna. The blonde understood what she was going to tell her.

“Sure! Coming,” Emily said as she got up from the bed.

Hanna kept gathering her things. She noticed there was a t-shirt missing, and went downstairs to see if it was there. The sisters were in Carolyn’s room, talking about her... and she heard them from the hall.

_“Give her some space… Just one week. Let her think and settle and when she’s ready, she’ll come talk to you,” Carolyn said._

_“But why?” Emily asked, she sounded estranged._

_“’Cause she needs it. She’s been through a lot with Sean... and with you.”_

_“With me?”_

_“Yes. Just give her a week. Or the time she needs. Let her come to you when she’s ready,” Carolyn said. “I know I’m not telling you a lot… But it depends on her.”_

_“But…” Emily said, and kept talking._

But Hanna didn’t want to keep listening. Instead, she went to Emily’s room, and put the t-shirt in her bag, too, along with all the other things. She was right, it was downstairs. She had everything ready to go, now, she just needed to get changed… or she would be going to school in her pajamas.

After a moment, Emily came back to her room. Hanna was already out of her pajamas and in her normal clothes. They looked at each other for a moment, but neither of them said a single thing. _Oh God, what did she tell her? Why is she looking at me like that?_ And it was like the brunette was reading her mind, ‘cause she started to talk.

“I, uh… I don’t really know what’s happening, but I’ll give you your space.”

“Thanks,” was everything Hanna could say. She felt like crap for having to put her through this.

“Let’s go get some breakfast and then we’ll go to class,” Emily said. She sounded a little bit dry.

* * *

“Han, Em!” Aria said from afar.

“Hi! How was the weekend?” Spencer, who was with her, asked. It was obvious for Hanna she was asking about Sean.

“Actually… It was good,” Hanna said, “but I’ll tell you later, I’m gonna call mom.”

“Okay!” Aria said, and Hanna began to walk.

When she was at a good distance and none of the three girls could listen or even see her, she leaned against the wall and looked up, as if asking whoever was up there to give her strength to get over that week.

She took her phone out and dialed her mom’s number. She had her in her contact list, but she knew the number by heart and she was faster that way. _Pick up, pick up._ But she didn’t pick up, so she tried again. Come on, mom.

“Hanna?” Ashley’s voice came out from the other end of the line.

“Mom! Are you coming home today?”

“I am. Actually, I’m almost there. Is something wrong?” Ashley asked her daughter.

“No, no. Just… I wanted to know if you’ll be there.”

“I will. And I don’t have to work until tomorrow so we’ll have time to catch up.”

“Yeah, and to do the laundry… I spent the weekend at Em’s and I have some dirty clothes,” Hanna said, laughing.

“Oh, yeah, I spoke to Pam about you staying there.”

“Yeah! I know, they told me,” Hanna said. “I’ve gotta go to class, I’ll see you later! I love you, mom.”

“I love you, too, honey. See you later!”

Hanna hung up the phone and stayed there for a moment. After she gathered some willingness, she went to class. Not before meeting with the girls again.

“Hi again,” Hanna said. “So my mom is gonna be home today, she’s almost there,” she added with a big smile on her face.

“You must be thrilled!” Aria said. “Hey, are we eating together, today?”

“I think so,” Spencer said. “I think we have lunch at the same time.”

“We do, but I think I’m gonna use the time go to the library and start one of the projects I have to do,” Emily said, looking first at Hanna, and then at the girls.

“Are you sure?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll grab something to eat and then I’ll go to the library. Don’t worry.”

At that very moment, the school bell rang. _Saved by the bell._

“I’ll see you both later, then!” Spencer said to Hanna and Aria.

The four of them walked through the school’s big doors and headed towards their classes.

* * *

Spencer and Aria were already at their table when Hanna went to the terrace of the school cafeteria. Emily wasn't there and she felt bad because of it. She wasn’t there because of her. Because she needed some time to figure things out. Because she had to deal with her feelings and her thoughts.

“Hi, Hanna,” Aria said as the blonde sat next to her. “So… how was your weekend?”

“Well… It was good. Weird, but good.”

“Weird? Why?” Spencer asked.

“First, thanks for the sleepover, Aria!” Hanna said, and Aria nodded. “And second… Well, Sean and I broke up, yesterday.”

“You broke up? But… why?” Aria asked, surprised.

“He’s leaving to Pittsburgh tomorrow, and I don’t want to be in a long distance relationship. And it hurts ‘cause it sucks, but that’s the way it is.”

“But did you end up in good terms or…?”

“Yes, I mean. He left me there in the park, he was hurt. But we talked about it, and he understood. I’m sure he hates me… But there’s nothing I can do about it.” Hanna said, looking down. “There wasn’t any fight or anything. We just talked.”

“That’s good,” Spencer said. “I mean… not _good_ , but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah. And I’ve got to thank Em, ‘cause if it wasn’t for her, right now I would’ve been home feeling like crap and asking myself why I broke up with him.”

“Let’s thank Em, then!” Aria said, smiling. “So, you spent the weekend at Em’s?”

“Yep. After we had lunch at the mall I went to my house to pick up some things and then I went to Em’s. We spent most of the weekend with Carolyn.”

“Then that must be the reason why she’s not here but doing her projects,” Aria said.

“Yeah… Listen, I know you both know about…” Hanna said, not finishing the sentence.

“Yes, she told me… and Spence is too clever not to know,” Aria said. “What’s up?”

“Well, I didn’t know ‘cause I’m not that clever, and she told me on Saturday night. And Sean and I broke up on Sunday, and…”

Hanna kept quiet for a while. Eating. She didn’t know how to say what she wanted to say. She wasn’t sure if she should say it, even. After all, she wasn’t sure about anything, yet.

“And…?” Spencer asked.

“And it didn’t even hurt. I mean, it did… but it didn’t. I can’t explain.”

“You need to tell us something more specific so we can follow you,” You could notice the lack of understanding in Aria’s voice.

“Em took the time to make me feel good. And Carolyn, too. I mean… thanks to them I barely had the time to be sad.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Aria said.

“It is, to a certain point,” Hanna answered. “The thing is… Emily is not here not because she has some project to do, which she has, but also because I asked her.”

“You asked her? What? Why?” Aria said.

“I think… Hanna doesn’t know how she feels about this whole thing,” Spencer said.

_You’re the smartest… No doubt._

“About what?” Aria asked. She clearly didn’t understand yet.

“About…” Spencer said, looking at Hanna. Hanna looked at her. She had a surprised expression on her face, but she wasn’t completely shocked. “About Em?”

“Yeah…” Hanna confirmed.

“Are you saying you like Emily?” Aria said, almost whispering. She didn’t want anybody else to hear her.

“I’m saying I don’t know. I mean, after all she’s done for me this weekend I sure appreciate her more than I did before. And I don’t know if that’s because of this weekend or because those are my true feelings.”

“Does she know about this?” Aria said.

“Nope. Carolyn does. We talked about it and she gave me this idea of spending a week as far as possible from her. She said it would give me another perspective. I’d be far from Sean, obviously, and far from Em, so at the end of the week I’ll really know.”

“Then, how does she know she has to stay away from you?”

“Carolyn told her. I didn’t have the strength to do it. I didn’t wanna hurt her. And I know I’m hurting her now, but by the end of the week, if I don’t have feelings for her that would be it and it would be like before… more or less. And if I do have those feelings, then she wouldn’t mind, I think.”

“That’s smart,” Spencer said.

“It is. It hurts, but it is. But please, don’t tell her. Promise me you won’t tell her. I don’t want her to get her hopes up, I don’t wanna hurt her even more.”

“Promised,” Aria and Spencer said in unison.

“We don’t want any of you to get hurt,” Aria said.

“Thanks! Anyways… How was your weekend?” Hanna asked.

The girls began to talk about their weekends. Spencer spent it working in two projects for History and Literature, even though she still had two weeks to hand them in. Aria went to the theater with Ella. Aria always called her mom by her first name, it’s something the Montgomery family does.

But lunchtime was soon over, and all of them headed to their classes.

* * *

Hanna opened the front door of her house and went in. On the floor next to the door there was a bag. Her mom’s bag. A big smile appeared in her face.

“Mom?” She shouted.

“In the kitchen!” Hanna heard Ashley say.

She went to the kitchen to see her mom cooking. “Hi, mom!” she said as she hugged her. It hadn’t been that long, but she needed her mom. Her mom, her hero. “How was your week?”

“You know, boring as hell, like always. But at least I won’t be leaving again until Friday, I think.”

_Until Friday? Perfect._ At least Hanna wouldn’t be home alone that week. And she definitely could talk to her about Sean. About everything.

“That’s good,” Hanna said.

“It is!” Ashley agreed. “How was everything over here? Where’s Sean?”

_Oh… Mom didn’t know. Right…_

“Well… We broke up,” Hanna said, looking down.

“Oh, Hanna… What happened?”

Hanna began to explain everything. She talked about his parents going out to Pittsburgh, and about his parents making him go with them. And about the talk they had, and how everything went more or less fine. Ashley completely understood how her daughter didn’t want to be in a long distance relationship.

Ashley finished cooking and started to eat. Hanna didn’t, as she wasn’t hungry. It was too soon for her. After a while, she told her about Emily. About her being in love with the blonde. She didn’t dare tell her mom about her own feelings and thoughts. Not yet, anyways. She didn’t want to tell her anything until she was sure.

“Okay, well, it looks like it was a busy weekend for all of you,” Ashley said after everything her daughter told her.

“It was, yes.”

“Not that I don’t want to spend more time with you this evening, honey… But I think I’m gonna have a shower and go to sleep. I’m really tired,” Ashley said.

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry. I thought you were… You go. I’ll watch some TV or something.”

Ashley got up and brought the empty plate and the couple of glasses to the dishwasher. Hanna, who was sitting in front of her mother, got up to and headed towards the couch.

“Good night, Hanna.”

“Good night, mom. Get some rest!” 

* * *

 

It was Wednesday night and Hanna was lying in bed, looking at the ceiling. _Okay… Let’s try not to think. About anything._ It worked for a moment, until it didn’t. _Ugh._

She took her phone from the nightstand and looked through the contact list. _Carolyn_. She pressed _Send message_ and wrote “Care, it’s Hanna. Can I call you?” and waited for a response. At that moment, she tried again not think. Unsuccessful. _Ugh!_

Her phone vibrated. _Incoming call. Carolyn_. Hanna quickly picked up.

“Hi, Han! How’s everything?”

“Good, good… I wanted to talk to you ‘cause you said I could call you…”

“I did. What’s up?”

“You sound busy, are you busy?” Hanna said as she got up and closed the bedroom door.

“Nope! I was just watching TV with a friend but she left already… I’m cleaning up. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, okay. The thing is… Have you talked to Em?”

“I did, actually,” said Carolyn. “This afternoon.”

“How is she doing?”

“She’s… hanging in there. How are you?” Carolyn asked.

“It’s been three days without Sean and without Emily and… would it be okay to say I miss her but not him? ‘Cause I do. And I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“You know what that means, don’t you?”

“I… I think I do.”

“You think or you do?”

“I think I do.”

“Then you gotta make sure.”

“I know, and I will,” Hanna said. “Thank you so much, Care.”

“Take care, Han! Text me if you need anything.”

“I will! Bye!”

Hanna hung up the phone and kept staring at it for a moment, smiling. She left it in the nightstand, not before setting the alarm for the next day. On Thursdays, Emily had an early training session in the swimming pool. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. The next day would be an interesting one.

* * *

The blonde woke up earlier than usually, and her mom was surprised, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, Ashley gave her some money for lunch and breakfast, as she had no time to prepare it for her. Hanna got in her car and drove to the school. It was such a beautiful day.

Music came out of the speakers, a new song by Ellie Goulding called _Burn_. Hanna hadn’t heard it before, but she still turned up the volume.

_'Cause we got the fire, fire, fire_

_Yeah we got the fire, fire, fire_

_And we gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn_

_We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn…_

After that, the radio speaker talked about some beauty cream and gave way to another song, but Hanna was already at the school and she didn’t stay in the car just to hear it. Instead, she parked her car, got out and headed to the pool, where, if everything was correct, Emily would be training already.

And she was. And Hanna’s heart began to race. Four days since the last time she saw her had taken its toll. _How come she makes my heart do that?_ She sat on the bleachers where she could see the pool. There were some other people there, too, watching the girls swimming.

“Go, Emily!” She said, and Emily, who hadn’t seen her until that moment, turned around and smiled at her.

Emily waved at her, after all, she was training and she couldn’t get distracted… or the Coach would say something. And also, it was her turn to dive.

Hanna stayed there during the whole time, and when the girls headed to the showers, she went to the door, where she waited for Em to go out. There was no one around, it was still a bit early for the first period to begin.

Emily was the first girl to come through the door. Her hair was still wet from the shower, and it looked really good on her. She was also wearing that blue t-shirt Hanna liked so much.

“Hey!” Hanna said quickly.

“Hi… What were you doing in the pool?”

“I came to see you… I needed to talk to you,” Hanna began to say. “I know this hasn’t been fair to you. Even more, as you didn’t know what was happening.”

“It doesn’t matter…”

“No, no, let me speak. As Carolyn might’ve told you, I needed time to figure things out, and now I have.”

“What things?” Emily asked, confused.

“Mostly? My thoughts. Or rather… my feelings,” Hanna answered.

People started coming to the school, and there were more people there every minute. Hanna didn’t feel like talking about that in front of everyone, so she asked Emily if she could come with her. The both of them went out the school and into Hanna’s car. There was almost no one in the parking lot.

“What about your feelings?” Emily asked, already in the car.

“The thing is…” she paused. Emily was staring at her, waiting. Her heart pounding, Hanna looked right into the brunette’s eyes and said “I like you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loved it? Hated it? Post a comment below and let me know! :D xDD


	5. 4:56, make a wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily begins to understand what Hanna's revelation might bring in to her life, so she decides to take her somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE, read the notes at the end of the chapter!!

“Are you really saying what I think you’re saying?” Emily asked. _This is not happening. I must be sleeping or dreaming._

“Yes.” Hanna said, smiling, and it made Em’s heart race. “I needed this week to figure this out. I didn’t know if my feelings for you were due to the fact that Sean was leaving me and you were the one there for me, or if they were my true feelings.”

“And…?”

“And at first I thought it was because of you being there for me, but now…” she paused and stared at her. “Now I don’t think that anymore.”

Emily was looking at Hanna. She didn’t know what to say. That must be the best thing that could happen to her, and she didn’t know what to say. She would’ve never imagined this situation. How could it even be possible? She was straight, or so she thought, she had a boyfriend… but at that moment, everything had changed. None of those things mattered anymore. There was just one thing that mattered. _Her_. The girl she’d been thinking of every night and every day. The girl she was in love with. The girl, sitting right next to her, telling her she liked her. Nothing could improve the way she was feeling at that very moment.

“I’m not afraid to say it out loud. I like you,” Hanna said. “I like you and I admire you.”

Emily looked around to see if somebody was looking at them, but there wasn’t, so she leaned towards Hanna, looking right into her eyes. The blonde leaned too, her noses almost touching. You could almost see the tension. Emily moved and touched Hanna’s lips with hers. Her hand searched for Han’s hip, the other for her neck. Their tongues intertwined. At the same time, she felt Hanna’s hand in her shoulder, and it made her whole body shake.

When they moved away from each other, they kept quiet for a moment, their hands in each other’s hands. They were both smiling, looking at each other. _This can’t be real!_ But it felt even more real than when Emily herself told Hanna about her own feelings.

“That felt good,” Hanna said, smiling.

“That felt _really_ good,” Emily said, smiling back at her. “That… that was our first kiss.”

“It was… and I hope it wasn’t the last one.”

Emily’s heart was already racing, but that last sentence made it skip a beat. If someone told her that this would be happening, Emily would’ve laughed at them for even believing it could be possible. But it was. It really was happening.

She leaned again a kissed the blonde one more time, taking her time to move away.

“There, our first kiss wasn’t the last one,” Emily said, trying to sound as serious as possible, but she could make it, which caused both of them to laugh loudly. “Listen, Aria told me about you mom leaving again tomorrow… At what time does she leave?”

“Around noon, I think. Maybe a bit later. Why?”

“I wanna take you somewhere, at night. And then we can go to my place… so you don’t have to be alone.”

“Where do you wanna take me?”

“I won’t tell you, yet, but you’ll like it, I hope…” Emily teased. “But you better take a nap tomorrow, ‘cause it’s more or less an hour drive from here and we’ll go late.”

“You’re scaring me,” Hanna said. She sounded serious even though she wasn’t, judging by the look on her face.

“Don’t be, trust me. That we go there late has to do with the beauty of the place. You’ll see.”

“I trust you,” Hanna said, smiling.

“Good,” Emily answered. “Then you can prepare your things for the weekend, so we don’t have to go back to your place before going to mine.”

“I will, and I’ll take a nap, too. And we’ll go to that mysterious place. And we’ll go to your place,” Hanna said, smiling at Emily, as if writing a to-do list in her mind.

Emily looked at the clock in the dashboard. “I think we’re late for the first period.”

“I don’t mind, we’ll go to the next one.” Hanna smirked and leaned towards Emily. Like a reflection in a mirror, Emily leaned towards Hanna and they kissed again.

* * *

“What are you going to tell Spencer and Aria?” Emily asked.

She and Hanna were already at the table were the four girls ate lunch together. In less than ten minutes, Aria and Spencer would be there, probably surprised to see them together.

“I don’t know… We’ll see, I guess.”

“Have you talked about this with them?”

“Nope. I mean, yes. On Monday when you were doing a project during lunch time they asked me what was happening, I told them that you weren’t there because of me, and Spencer figured it all out.”

“Yeah, she really is the smartest,” Emily said.

“Who is the smartest?” Spencer said. Neither Hanna nor Emily saw the two girls were behind them.

“You are, Veronica Mars,” Emily laughed.

“Why everyone calls me that?”

“Maybe it’s because you’re kinda like her…” Aria agreed.

“I’m not! But okay…” Spencer said. “Anyways, I didn’t think we were gonna see you both here, not until next week, at least. What’s up?”

Emily looked at Hanna and Hanna looked at Emily. They gave each other a knowing look. Emily let her speak, as she was the one who talked about it with them.

“Well… I figured things out.”

“And…?”

“And… everything went better than expected.”

“Are you saying…?” Aria said, and it looked like she understood. She had a big smile on her face.

“Oh, you know what I’m saying!” Hanna said and paused for a moment. Moment she used to look at Emily again. Emily didn’t stop looking at her during the whole conversation. “But I don’t want to go publicly about this, yet… I hope you all understand, especially you.”

“I do. Whenever you’re ready… I’m here,” Emily stated.

Emily desperately wanted to go public with this, tell everyone she knew what happiness was, what it was like to be in love. That that love was mutual. That she wanted to spend the rest of her life with _her_. But as much as she wanted that, she agreed on giving her the time she needed. At the end, it would be worth it.

“I’m so glad for you, guys!” Aria said. “I really am!”

“ _We_ really are! It makes the rest of us have hope.”

“Shut up! You’re gonna find someone, you’ll see. If I did… You can.” Emily said. She couldn’t stop smiling.

“We gotta get to class… But do you wanna hang out after class, this afternoon?” Hanna asked.

“Sure! Why not? I have nothing to do,” Aria said.

“Me neither,” Spencer said. “Where do we meet?”

“Uh… By my car? And we’ll go from there.” Emily said as both of them got up.

“Sure! We’ll see you guys later.” Spencer said. “Bye!”

The girls turned around and headed to the door. From behind they heard an “oh, wow” coming out of Aria’s mouth, which caused the girls to laugh. Hanna’s classroom was next to Emily’s, and she walked her there. They were early, and there was no one around, just one girl already sitting at her desk, reading a book while eating alone.

After making sure no one saw them, Emily stole a peck from Hanna’s lips, and they both smiled. Until Hanna decided to come out, these things would have to do.

“I’ll see you later, Han.”

“See you, Em. Don’t get bored!”

* * *

“Oh, my God, you’re adorable!” An excited Aria said from the distance.

Emily and Hanna were one in front of the other, Hanna leaning on the car. They were talking and kissing while they waited for Spencer and Aria. It looked like the latter was the first to arrive, as Spencer was nowhere to be seen, yet.

When the girls heard that, they moved away and laughed, looking immediately at her.

“Oh, please, don’t mind me,” Aria said. “I’ll just stand here… doing nothing… waiting for Spencer.”

“Come on!” Emily said. “Come here.”

Aria went to where the girls were, and Emily gave her a kiss on the cheek and hugged her.

“Thank you,” Em said.

“What for?”

“For talking to me when I was in a bad shape, for telling me I should tell her, even though at that moment I thought you were crazy… for talking to her while I couldn’t. Thanks.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Em.”

“Sure we do,” Hanna said now. She also gave her a hug. “Thanks for the sleep over. And for everything Em said.”

“No problem! You’re gonna make me blush,” Aria said, and the three of them laughed.

At that moment, Spencer came.

“Spence, they’re so cute I had to shout it before, when I saw them!” Aria said, excited.

“You shouted it? You’re crazy!” Spencer said, and all of them laughed. “Where are we going?”

“I thought we could go to the mall and have a drink, there. I can drive and bring you all here later to your cars, if you want,” Emily said. “We don’t need to take the four cars.”

“Let’s do something. You go with Hanna and Spencer comes with me… Then you bring her back, ‘cause I’ll meet my dad at the mall, afterwards, so I won’t have the time to come back.”

“That’s okay with me,” Spencer said. “Let’s go, then!”

Aria and Spencer headed to Aria’s car and left Hanna and Emily alone. Hanna took Em’s hand with both her hands and started to intertwine their fingers and play with them.

“That went well. I thought Aria was gonna freak out, or something…” Hanna said. “Where are we going, then?”

“Rive Gauche. Let’s see Dan, see if he’s fine, after all he looked worried when I had to leave to pick you up at the park, that day.”

“Let’s find out if he and Carolyn talked after that day!” Hanna said, excited. “After all your sister has done for me… for us, I want her to be as happy as I am.”

“As happy as you are? And how much is that?” Emily teased.

“You tell me… I have you.”

Emily’s heart skipped a beat. She didn’t expect that kind of answer. She looked down for a moment, at their hands intertwined, she was blushing, but nothing could erase the smile she had drawn on her face. She looked up again and kissed Hanna on the lips, after which she let go of her hands and hugged her.

“You were right, they’re adorable,” the girls heard Spencer say.

The girls moved away from each other and laughed.

“Come on, are you gonna say that every time you see us kissing or hugging?” Emily asked, still laughing.

“Nope! Just until we get used to it,” Spencer teased. “We went to Aria’s car, we came here, and you still haven’t got into yours? Come on!”

“We’ll follow.”

“Okay, okay, let’s go…” Emily said, giving Hanna a peck. They both got into the car and Emily turned it on. “Let’s go.”

* * *

“Emily! So nice to see you. Hanna, you too!” Dan said as the four girls walk through the doors. The two girls smiled at him. “The booth you usually sit at is empty, you can go, if you want.”

“Thanks, Dan! Give us a minute to decide what we want,” Emily said.

“Sure!” He said. “And Hanna… I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks, Dan! I couldn’t be better.”

“That’s good! Now go, I’ll come in a minute.”

The four girls sat in their booth. After three times there, Emily could say it was theirs.

“Such a good guy. Do you know him?” Spencer asked.

“Sure. He might be my brother-in-law… We just don’t know yet.” Emily said, lowering her voice.

“Oh! So he’s the guy who…?” Aria asked, but she didn’t finish the question.

“He is. Now, what do you want? Drinks…?” Emily asked.

At that moment, Dan came back with a notebook on one hand and a pen on the other.

“Let’s see… Hanna wants sex on the beach?” Dan said, laughing.

“I wasn’t going to, but okay, one of that!” Hanna laughed, too, and the other girls joined.

“Virgin, virgin, I know! Okay… And Emily wants a Diet Coke, maybe?”

“That’s right!”

“And the new girls…?” Dan asked.

“Oh, sorry! She’s Spencer and she’s Aria,” Emily said, pointing at them. “They’re our best friends.”

“Spencer and Aria… And what do Spencer and Aria want?”

“I’ll have Coke, too,” Spencer said.

“Aaand I feel like having a virgin piña colada,” Aria said, and the three girls turned their heads towards her. Aria wasn’t usually drinking cocktails… Not even cocktails without alcohol. “What? I feel like it.”

Dan wrote everything down and looked at the girls. “Okay, then. I’ll be back!” He went to the bar to prepare the drinks for the girls.

“And he’s funny, too. He seems really nice,” Aria said.

“He is… he didn’t even know me, really, when Sean and I broke up, and he worried about me… Or that’s what it looked like,” Hanna said.

“He did. Carolyn told me later. And he looked worried when I had to go to the park. If this thing between him and Carolyn goes well, I think I couldn’t ask for anyone better than him for my sister.”

“That’s really nice of you to say,” Spencer said. “And you don’t know if they are together?”

“Nope… I mean, I know they have talked on the phone this week, but Carolyn didn’t tell me anything else. Let’s see if he says something,” Emily said. “I hope you don’t mind we’re here.”

She knew Hanna didn’t mind, that in fact she wanted, too. But now she felt like she dragged Spencer and Aria here just to see if Dan said something. I didn’t feel right.

“Oh, no, please. I don’t mind. As long as we’re together and have some fun, there is no problem about where we go,” Spencer said. “That’s me, anyways.”

“Oh, yeah, me too. I don’t mind either,” Aria agreed, smiling. “And I like this place, it looks great.”

“Thank you!” Dan said, nobody saw him coming, and all of them turned their heads to face him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Don’t worry! It looks great, I like it,” Aria said again.

Dan smiled at her and began to put the drinks on the table.

“So, Dan… Have you talked to Carolyn?” Emily asked, and feared she had been too direct.

“I did, yeah. In fact, she told me she’s coming to Rosewood tomorrow night.”

Emily didn’t know that. Her sister told Dan she was coming but she didn’t hell her. That must have meant something. Or maybe it just was that she didn’t know she was coming when she spoke to her the day before in the morning.

“So I guess we’ll see you on Saturday?” Emily asked, excited.

“I hope so!” Dan said, also excited. “I gotta get back to work, but let me know if you, girls, need anything.”

“Will do!” Hanna said.

“Well, that didn’t tell me anything… I guess we’ll have to see what happens on Saturday,” Emily said, frustrated. “Anyways!”

The four girls started to talk about different things. The school, homework, projects… Weekend plans and trips. Whatever came to their minds. When Aria started to talk about a boy, Emily took Hanna’s hand over the table and their fingers intertwined. She looked around, and Dan was looking at her, so she immediately blushed, but Dan just smiled at her. It looked like Hanna didn’t see any of that.

* * *

“Are you ready for tonight?” Emily asked Hanna between periods, in the girls’ bathroom.

“Nope! Let’s see… I haven’t prepared my bag for the weekend at your house, and I haven’t taken a nap, either.” Hanna teased her, smiling at her. “Okay, okay, I am. But I’m still afraid of where you’re gonna take me.”

“Don’t be, really, I think you’ll like it.”

“And if I don’t…”

“You will,” Emily interrupted.

“And if I don’t at least I’ll be with you.”

Emily took Hanna’s hand and put it her chest where her heart was, so the blonde could feel it.

“Can you feel it? It’s been crazy since yesterday. And you telling me these kinds of things doesn’t help… Or rather, it helps a lot.”

“You’re making me blush,” Hanna said.

“So you can tell me those things and make my heart skip a beat, and I can’t tell you anything ‘cause you blush?” Emily said, smirking, teasing Hanna.

“I didn’t say that!” Hanna quickly answered. Her cheeks were stained red. Her hand, still on Em’s chest, felt every heartbeat. She moved her hand and Em’s, still on top of hers, and made Emily feel her heart, too.

Hanna’s heart was also racing. As soon as Em felt it, a big smile appeared on her face. _This is real. It is. It’s real and I love it._

“I could get used to this.”

“You better,” Hanna answered, looking right into the brunette’s eyes.

Hanna leaned a little, making Emily lean, too, but just as Em was about to kiss her, Han moved back. _Come on!_ Hanna was teasingly smiling at her, and she quickly leaned again a kissed Emily.

“Come on, we’re gonna be late to yet another class… You’re gonna get me expelled,” Emily teased. She didn’t mind being expelled if there was a good reason… And that reason was totally worth it, but future colleges wouldn’t like that.

“If they haven’t expelled me yet… You’re not gonna get expelled either,” Hanna said. _Well, that has its logic._ “Okay, let’s go! Hey, after class I’ll go home to say bye to my mom and all of that. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Sure, I’ll call you before I go pick you up,” Emily said. “Don’t worry. You go do what you need to do.”

“Cool! I’ll be waiting, then. See you tonight!” Hanna said as she went out of the bathroom.

* * *

“Mom, did you know Carolyn’s coming today? Tonight?” Emily asked her mom. “She didn’t tell me.”

“I did, yes. I think she’ll be here at around 8 or 9 in the evening. Why don’t you call her to confirm? See if I have you cook supper for four instead of three.”

“Sure! Right now. By the way, mom, I’m hanging out, tonight. I’ll go with Hanna to a party she’s been invited to and then we’ll come here. Her mom’s not home this weekend, either,” Emily lied. There was no party, but she didn’t want to tell her mom where they were going.

“No problem, honey! Just don’t be late,” Pam said.

“I don’t know… We’ll see, don’t worry. I’m gonna call Carolyn.”

Emily grabbed her phone from the shelf where she left it when she came home. She looked through her contact list and pressed the little phone button next to Carolyn’s name. _One tone, two tones…_ She went upstairs to her bedroom.

“Hi, Em! What’s up?”

“Somebody told me you’re coming home today… and it wasn’t mom.” Emily heard Carolyn laugh at the other end of the line. “I guess you don’t tell me anything…!”

“Don’t get mad! I didn’t know I was coming the last time I spoke with you, and then I supposed mom would tell you.”

“She didn’t. Dan did. We went there to have some drinks and he was working,” Emily said, picking up some clothes her mom brought there after laundry.

“How is he?”

“Good! But you already know that…” Emily teased.

“Yes, I do know that. And I do know other things, too…”

“What did he tell you?”

“Oh, some things. Something about two holding hands…? But we’ll talk about that. I have to go pack some things, I’ll see you tonight?”

“Depends on when you come, I’m going out tonight. But hey, mom wanted me to call you to know if you’re eating here, tonight… so she knows if she should prepare food for you, too.”

“No, tell mom I’ll eat here, my roommate is bringing some friends and I promised I’d stay for a while… but I’ll be home short after.”

“Okay, then. See you later… or tomorrow. Love you!”

“Love you too, sis. Have fun!”

Emily hung up the phone and left it on her desk. _Okay… Now let’s get everything ready for tonight._ She went to her closet and grabbed a blanket. The weather was accurate for a perfect day of spring, not too hot, not too cold, but they would need it. She also went downstairs and prepared a couple of sandwiches in the kitchen, which she took upstairs and put into a basket along with a bag of chips. After taking a nap, she would also put a bottle of water in there.

Once she got everything ready to go, she lied down in her bed in order to take a nap. _Oh, I almost forgot…_ She got up and went to the top of the stairs.

“Mom? Carolyn won’t eat here! But she’ll come later. And I’ll just have something light, don’t worry for my dinner, either!”

“Okay, honey! Your dad and I will be.”

“I’m gonna take a nap!”

“Get some rest!”

Emily went again to her bedroom and closed the door. She lied in her bed again, looking up at the ceiling. After a while she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

_Crap. Crap, crap, crap. What time is it?_ Emily didn’t hear the alarm. It was past eleven o’clock when she woke up. She quickly got up and took her phone to call Hanna. She feared she wouldn’t pick up or she wouldn’t wanna go.

“I thought you weren’t going to call me,” Hanna said as she picked up the phone.

“I’m so sorry, I set my alarm to wake up but I didn’t hear it when it went off. I’m sorry. Do you still wanna go?” Emily asked, hoping for it.

“Of course. You said at night, late… It’s night, and it’s late. I’ll be here.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes. See you in a moment!”

She hung up the phone and put it in her pocket. She quickly grabbed the basket where she put the blanket and the food and went downstairs, where she left everything next to the door. _A bottle of water, don’t forget._ She saw her mom reading in the couch. Carolyn wasn’t there yet. She opened the fridge and took a cold bottle of water.

“Mom, I’m leaving. I guess Carolyn won’t take too long.”

“Okay, Emmy. Have fun. Don’t get home too late!”

“If we see we won’t come back soon, maybe we stay at Hanna’s, don’t worry. That way we won’t wake up anybody here.”

“Okay, then. Say hi to the girls for me.”

“I will. Bye!”

Emily headed to the front door and opened it before taking everything she left next to it. She also took the keys of the house and the keys of the car. When she was getting everything into the car’s trunk, a car appeared in her street. It was Carolyn’s. She parked next to Em’s car and got out, saying hi to Em and giving her a hug.

“I have to go pick Hanna up and I’m late. We’ll see you tomorrow and then we can talk about whatever you want. Promised.” Emily said as she hurried to the driver’s seat.

“Go have fun!” Carolyn said as she headed home.

Emily turned on the car and quickly went to Hanna’s house. They weren’t far from each other, and it only took 5 minutes to get there. The streets were empty and the lights were on in most of the houses of Hanna’s street. She pulled over but didn’t turn off the car. She was just going to ring the bell. Hanna opened the door, and as soon as she did, Emily apologized again.

“Don’t worry, have you eaten anything?” Hanna asked.

“Nope… I called you as soon as I woke up and I came here fast.”

“Then turn off the car and come in, my mom had some lasagna this afternoon and there are some leftovers. I ate some while waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t you say sorry again!” Hanna said as Emily went to the car and turned it off. “Come in. I’ll get you a plate.”

Both girls went in and Hanna kissed Emily before going to the kitchen and put some lasagna in a plate for her. Emily hurried up to eat the lasagna while Hanna looked at her.

“This is really good,” she said with her mouth half full.

“It is, my mom prepares a perfect lasagna. I don’t know about other things, but lasagna is always perfect,” Hanna said, smiling. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I do, I’m gonna come here more often, when your mom prepares more of this,” Emily said, finishing up.

Hanna laughed while she took the empty plate and cleaned it up in the sink.

“So… whenever you want. Do I have to bring anything?” Hanna asked.

“I don’t think so…” Emily said and thought for a moment. “Well, actually, I have a bottle of water, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring another one, just in case.”

“Okay, a bottle of water. Then we can go, now!” Hanna said while grabbing one from the fridge.

“Off we go,” Emily said, taking the bottle of water from Hanna’s hands and heading to the car. Hanna took her house keys and followed her, closing the front door in her way and getting in Em’s car while she put the bottle in the trunk with the rest of the things.

“Are you telling me already where we’re going?”

“Nope. Don’t ask. You’ll see,” Emily answered as she turned on the car and began to drive. It was past 12:30 already. “You can sleep some more, if you want, I won’t mind.”

“No… I’m not sleepy, maybe in a while,” Hanna said as she turned on the radio. “Plus, the moon is so bright, I like to see it.”

“It’s a full moon… we’ll have to be careful with the werewolves,” Emily said, smirking, and Hanna laughed.

“You’re so cute when you say things like that…” Hanna said, loosening her seatbelt a little bit to be able to get closer to Em and kiss her cheek. Emily leaned a bit so she didn’t have to unfasten her seatbelt.

The girls kept quiet for the next 45-50 minutes, listening to the radio, watching the moon and the road, thinking about their own things. Emily turned her head for a moment to see Hanna looking out of the window, and she was beautiful. A smile appeared in her face, she couldn’t help it. _I’m so lucky I have you._

“Hanna?” She said. “We’re almost there… just five more minutes.”

“Okay!” Hanna said, sounding excited.

Emily got into a dirt road which lead to an unpaved parking lot, where she parked and turned off the car.

“What is this place?” Hanna asked, intrigued, as they both got out of the car and Emily took the basket from the trunk.

“This is the place where I usually come when I have nothing better to do and I wanna disconnect or something. I wanted to bring you here so you could get to know a place almost as beautiful as you are.”

Hanna blushed while following Emily around. She was taking her to a place hidden behind some trees, next to the parking lot.

“Oh, my God, this place is amazing!” Hanna said, amazed.

The trees were hiding a lake. A lake surrounded by forest and wild flowers, each more beautiful than the next. The water was so clean you could see the fish and even the bottom of the lake for at least half a mile. The moon, so bright, gave the place the perfect illumination, and to see its reflection on the water made it even more perfect.

Hanna’s jaws were open, Emily saw the amazement on her face. It was exactly the same amazement she had the first time she saw that place at night. After that night, she went to the lake often. It was full of beauty, and the place screamed  _relax_ when you were there.

“And you haven’t brought anyone here?” Hanna asked, still openmouthed.

“Nope. You’re the first. I didn’t even bring Carolyn. I was driving one day I needed to get out of my house and I found this place. It was an afternoon, and in broad daylight I found it really beautiful… Once I came at night, I fell in love.”

“And I can see why… This place is amazing, and I’m really glad you brought me here. It’s such an honor to be the first person to come here with you.”

Emily blushed. “I'm glad you like it. Here, come,” she said as she left the basket in the ground and took out the blanket.

She put it on the ground so they could sit or lie down. When it was ready, she sat down with her legs crossed, taking her phone out of her pocket as it was hurting her hip. She began to take the food and the water out of the basket, too. She looked up for a moment to see Hanna looking everywhere around, still amazed.

“Are you coming?” Emily asked, looking at her.

“Oh, yeah, yeah!” Hanna said. “I was captivated by this place, sorry!” She sat down next to Emily in the blanket, also leaving her phone on the blanket next to Em’s, between the two girls.

“No, no, don’t be sorry. I totally get it. I was seeing you right now and I was seeing me more or less a year ago. This place is truly magic.”

“Did you do all of this for me?” Hanna said, seeing what Emily had set up.

“Nope, I did it for the girl that’s coming later…” Emily teased.

“Oh, you silly!” Hanna said, giving the brunette a pat on her arm, and both of them laughed. “Thank you. Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for preparing this night picnic, but more than anything… thank you for being with me.”

Emily blushed and her heart skipped yet another beat. She should get used to it if she was going to spend more and more time with Hanna over the time. But how could she get used to it? That meant the she died of love every time Hanna said something like that to her. Every time she touched her. Every time their lips touched. Every time she hold her hand and made her heart race. She never wanted that spark to go away. _Ever_. Once her heart settled, she leaned and kissed Hanna.

The girls started to eat and drink and talk and laugh. The time went by too quickly, as it tends to go whenever you’re in good company. The place became more beautiful by the minute. Emily never would’ve thought she would be there in those circumstances. Not with Hanna, not with anyone. And she loved it. She loved the fact that she was there, not alone but with someone. The person she loved.

At some moment in the night, almost morning, they were lying down looking at the sky full of stars. Hanna took her phone see what time it was.

“It’s 4:56! Four-five-six. Make a wish!" Hanna said, excited.

“Isn’t that done at 11:11?” Emily asked, estranged.

“Well… yes, but I make my own rules about it. Now make a wish!”

“I don’t need to ask for anything… I have everything I need,” Emily said taking Hanna’s hand, and the blonde blushed. “What you asked for?”

“I won’t tell you… If I do, it won’t come true,” Hanna teased and got closer to Em.

Still lying down, the girls were now facing each other and staring at each other.

“God, you’re beautiful,” Emily stated, admiring Hanna’s blue eyes, noticing every little imperfection that somehow made her even more perfect.

After hearing that, Hanna touched Emily’s lips with her fingers and they made their way to Em’s neck, making her get goosebumps all over her body. The blonde got closer, lips almost touching, but not yet. Emily was getting crazy. Her hand searched for Hanna’s hip, finding it, touching every inch of it, wanting to feel every freckle, every mole. She moved and their lips moved together, touching, feeling each other’s tongue. They sat up, still kissing.

Emily put her left hand on the ground to support herself, her right hand kept feeling Han’s body. The more she felt, the more aroused she got. She put herself over Hanna, who lied down again. Em moved her mouth from Hanna’s to her neck, where she left a kiss or two. The brunette felt a hand pushing her to the side and she moved away from Hanna’s body, which followed the movement and was now over Em’s.

“What do I do?” Hanna asked, unsure.

“What would you like to do?” Emily returned the question. “I’m no expert myself.”

Hanna got closer to her and kissed her, her hand touched Em’s hip and made her way down to her thigh, when she did that before, she noticed how Emily got the goosebumps. Em grabbed her hand and put it under her own chest. After that the brunette pushed Hanna to the side, making her lie next to her. Her lips still touching, Em moved her hand to Hanna’s pants and started to unbutton them.

Hanna moved away. “Em…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

Hanna kept staring at her for a moment while Emily kept unbuttoning her pants. When it was completely unbuttoned, the girl moved her hand to her belly button and began to make her way to Hanna’s inner thigh. Hanna got more aroused by the second. When Em’s fingers touched her lady parts, Han moved her hand from Em’s chest to Em’s hand, guiding her. Hanna was wet and Emily felt it. Hanna got even more aroused with every touch of the other girl’s skin on her insides. Emily pressed her fingers a bit harder, and the blonde hit the climax. She bit her lip and closed her eyes hard.

Emily took her hand out of Hanna’s pants and planted a kiss on her neck, and then another one in her mouth, which caused Hanna to stop biting her lip and open her eyes, and as she opened them, she saw Em’s face right in front of her. She moved forward and kissed her, moving her hand to her neck, pulling her closer, harder. When they moved apart, they lied again on the blanket.

The girls stared at each other after what they just did. Emily was the first to break the silence.

“You have no idea what you mean to me,” she paused. “I… I love you.”

Hanna kept staring at her for a while, smiling. “You were right, this place is truly magic.”

“Magic?” Emily asked, estranged.

“Yes. My wish just came true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeeeeell... we've come a long way. This is the story as I originally thought it and wrote it. It's been a while since I did that, though. I have some more ideas to continue this fic (to name some: what happens with Hanna's mom? And Em's? And Carolyn and Dan are going to take one more step?) 
> 
> I don't have anything else written, but if, and only if you want me to, I will write some more. But in order to do that (or not do that haha) I need to know. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Do you think they went too fast? Do you like the other characters? 
> 
> Well, you don't need to answer all of the above... But leave a message below and tell me what you think! =)
> 
> It's been a pleasure writing for you =) Have a nice day!


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